A House panel last week gave two-thirds of all federal agencies a failing grade for efforts to secure information systems -- a worse showing than last year attributed to greater awareness of security vulnerabilities. Rep. Stephen Horn (R-Calif.), who has graded . . .
A House panel last week gave two-thirds of all federal agencies a failing grade for efforts to secure information systems -- a worse showing than last year attributed to greater awareness of security vulnerabilities. Rep. Stephen Horn (R-Calif.), who has graded agencies on several information technology management topics over the years, gave the government an overall grade of F for its effort to secure IT systems, with 16 of 24 agencies surveyed receiving the failing grade. Only one agency received a grade higher than a C-plus.

"It is a disappointing feeling to announce that the executive branch of the federal government has received a failing grade for its computer security efforts," said Horn, chairman of the House Government Reform Committee's Government Efficiency, Financial Management and Intergovernmental Relations Subcommittee, at the Nov. 9 hearing during which he released the grades.

The grades are disappointing, even if they help wake up agency managers to the fact that there's a lot of work to be done to secure the systems, said Sallie McDonald, assistant commissioner for information assurance and critical infrastructure protection at the General Services Administration.

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