In response to GAO’s report, the chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said legislation is needed to update the “current FISMA framework to provide continuous, real-time security.”
GAO round that security-related incidents on federal information systems have increased 782 percent over the past six years, and it called on DHS and OMB to establish clearer guidelines and step up pressure on agencies that have fallen behind.
Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., said the committee is working on legislation to keep pace with an increasing variety and number of attacks. “Federal agencies need to fully implement meaningful security programs that can withstand the serious cyber challenges we face today and will face for the foreseeable future, and they need the proper oversight, resources, and guidance from Congress and the Obama administration to help them accomplish that critical goal,” he said.
Added ranking member, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., "the report confirms a disturbing fact: the federal government still has miles to go to protect its own systems from cyber-attacks.”
