According to a new Congressional report, any reasonable competent hacker could easily break into a number of wireless networks in the federal government. The report was issued by the Government Accountability Office and found that only a handful of government agencies had secure wireless networks. The report urges government agencies not to set up WiFi networks until and unless these agencies could be sure to secure them.
Nine of the 24 major agencies investigated, however, have yet to issue wireless security plans, while the guidelines others provided offered little guidance for acceptable use. The GAO was surpirsed to find that 13 agencies did not even require their WiFi networks to be set up in a secure fashion and most agencies, even those with rudimentary guidelines, do not monitor their employees' wireless activity to ensure that the guidelines are followed.
For more on the lack of WiFi security in the federal government:
- see this story from SC Magazine