DHS Hack: a reminder that our government is no good at data security

Last updated on: February 12, 2016 at 7:44 am by Stacey Dash

DHS Hack: a reminder that our government is no good at data security 2016-02-12T07:44:14-07:00 Stacey Dash

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Are you sitting down? This news is certain to shock you — the government does not prioritize the security of its citizens. I’ll give you a minute to gain your composure….

It’s no secret President Obama and his current administration have done little over his two terms in office to regulate the cyber security of American citizens — proven by numerous and disastrous cyber breeches (Click HERE to see 13 in just 12 months).

The Washington Examiner shares more details on the most recent breach of DHS and FBI files:

A hacker claimed this week to have stolen 200 gigabytes of sensitive government information, including personal details about 30,000 employees at the Department of Homeland Security and FBI.

How did he do it? When his initial attacks failed, he posed as a confused government employee and called the agency’s customer service line. They proved very helpful, immediately providing him with a valid token code. This frequently-changing access code is supposed to improve security, because employees are only able to obtain it through a government-issued device they’re meant to carry with them. But token codes aren’t much protection when people give them out to strangers over the phone.

Having defeated their own security system, customer service let the hacker help himself to up to a terabyte of information through a Department of Justice computer.

This sort of story might have seemed hard to believe a year ago. But today, it is par for the public course. The federal government, with its annual budget of $3.8 trillion and civilian workforce of more than 2 million, is the biggest and best-funded entity in the known universe. It is also hopelessly incompetent to perform many of its multitudinous functions. One of its special incompetencies is protecting sensitive data, on which it nevertheless spends a staggering $80 billion per year.

The frustrating part of situations similar to this one, is that they are mostly avoidable. Yet, our government refuses to takes the necessary steps to ensure the security of its citizens.

The biggest government in history has the biggest data breaches in history. It figures….

Data security concerns should prompt those who regard government as the great problem-solver to question their assumptions. The federal government must have some data, and it should protect it, just as it must protect national secrets. But it should be allowed to see far less personal information than it currently demands, and which it is abjectly failing to protect.

In a day when terrorist groups run unchecked, we need to be able to trust our leaders will protect us. Their actions up to this point certainly don’t inspire much faith in their abilities.

While Obama is vying to give (possibly dangerous) refugees a new identity in the United States, his own citizens are daily losing theirs to cyber theft. Where are his priorities? I pray the next administrations recognizes the severity of this issue and does what our current President has failed to do.

It is infuriating that the government puts at risk those who have offered their lives to defend us.

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