Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Subcommittee
on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations
and the Census, says agencies can’t protect their networks
without a thorough inventory. He said only five federal
agencies have reliable inventories, following the release
of the subcommittee’s fourth annual report card grading the
network security efforts of federal agencies based on reports
filed in compliance with the Federal Information Security
Management Act of 2002. Putnam stressed the importance of
independent oversight in the process and said that the
subcommittee would contact agency chief information officers
in the coming weeks to work on guidelines for increasing
network security.
He said he was recommitting the subcommittee’s resources to
prevent cyber attacks and argued that top government
executives need to recognize network security as a
dangerously neglected material weakness in need of their
prompt attention.
Another report on network security is due out in March from
the Office of Management and Budget, according to Putnam.
Subcommittee webpage
http://reform.house.gov/TIPRC/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=2025
