Incidents

IT Experts Give False Security Certification

DHS and FBI involved

By Alexandru Dumitru, Security News Editor

25th of September 2007, 07:40 GMT

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The US Department of Homeland Security has been tricked into thinking they were secure, when they actually weren't. Data breaches occurred and Unisys - the company that was supposed to protect the DHS - did absolutely nothing,

and even worse, said everything was OK. This is a major screw up - Unisys holds a $1.7 billion contract with the DHS and failed to do what they were supposed to. If this is right, then I don't know what they were thinking - they were working for the Department of Homeland Security not for some small firm. Those guys cannot afford security breaches.

As the Washington Post informs, the feds are on the line now, investigating the technology firm after it allegedly failed to detect cyber brake-ins traced to a Chinese language Web site and then tried to cover up its deficiencies. It's one thing to not uphold security the right way, but to hide this, instead of openly trying to solve problems is a pretty bad thing, as seen in previous cases.

However, a spokeswoman for Unisys states that they know nothing of any investigation and that they have not been notified in any way, by anyone, of any investigation being underway. She continued saying that the company she represents has provided the DHS "with government-certified and accredited security programs and systems, which were in place throughout 2006 and remain so today" as seen on Washington Post's website.

In any case, everyone should keep in mind that communicating is the best way of solving security problems and that hiding the dirt under the rug is not a good method. People that generally do not acknowledge their problems will face them again, while the ones that step up and admit to have a problem will better solve them, and a good example in this case is the one Estonia set after getting severely hacked this year.

TAGS:

Unisys | security | FBI | DHS

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