The American Department of Homeland Security, created about two years ago with the competence to centralize the government’s strategy in case of cyber attacks, has not fulfilled its objectives and is not prepared to respond effectively in an emergency situation, guarantees a recently released report .
According to the document, the department has not yet developed a contingency plan to restore Internet functions in the event of an emergency and has not thoroughly studied the consequences of an attack, taking into account the worst-case scenarios, says the report that results from an internal audit.
«The department cannot effectively be the main focus of cybersecurity as required by law and national policy» says the document, taking into account the skills developed in the two years of activity. «There are growing risks that the national infrastructure is not defended in key areas of cybersecurity or poorly prepared to respond effectively to cyber emergencies.»
The results of the report, which also points to an excess of top management positions in the department, are released with the culmination of a test conducted by the CIA that simulated an electronic attack on the United States.
The United States Department of Homeland Security brings together the computer security centers of the FBI, Department of Defense, Department of Commerce and Department of Energy.
This body has already commented on the report’s results and defends itself saying that all changes and new security challenges known since that time are the main factor for the department to have to readjust methods, which influenced the speed of results.
This defense is, however, reflected in the report itself, which states that the spyware, the spammers or terrorism are all recent concepts and for which the department has 13 specific competencies and has not addressed any of them completely.
Related News:
2005-02-18 – Computer network security slightly above mediocre in US federal agencies
2004-01-27 – Emails try to convince users to provide personal and bank details
