Wednesday, February 11, 2009

FAA Computers hacked

Not surprising, considering that classified networks get hacked, too. But they're the latest Poster Child for the state of computer security:

The Federal Aviation Administration has joined the growing list of government agencies that have had their supposedly safe systems hacked. The agency this week notified about 45,000 employees that one of its servers was hacked into and employee personal identity information was stolen.

The FAA was quick to say the server that was accessed was not connected to the operation of the air traffic control system or any other FAA operational system. It did say two of the 48 files on the breached computer server contained personal information about more than 45,000 FAA employees and retirees who were on the FAA's rolls as of the first week of February 2006.

The "quick to say" part about the operational network not being exposed may be - almost certainly contains - PR spin. However, it's plausible, given the way the Bad Guys look for highly salable personal information.

Still, it's impossible to look at this and not think about the power grid, or container port computers, or a million other soft, poorly protected targets. Will this be a wake up call for the FAA? Will be it a wake up call for other government agencies?

1 comment:

AnarchAngel said...

Technically it wasn't even one of "their" servers; it was operated by a contractor.

Theoretically the contractor should have operated under the same standards (and in actuality, most first party contractors operate under STRICTER standards than the agencies they contract for).

Theoretically...