The Science of National Insecurity at the Los Alamos Lab

Davey Winder
Saturday, 27 September 2008 20:45

Your IT - Home IT

Once access was gained, the GAO report reveals "a user could create a simple password that would allow alternative access to certain sensitive information."

Furthermore, the report adds "LANL did not use encryption for authentication to certain internal services, which increased the risk that sensitive information transmitted over the unclassified network could be compromised."

Feeling comforted yet? Didn't think so, and this probably won't help either. GAO found that some 44 percent of the 688 foreign nationals who had access to the unclassified network were from countries "classified as sensitive" such as China, India, and Russia.

Recommendations made in the GAO report included risk assessment to evaluates all known vulnerabilities, strengthened policies regarding foreign national access, and strengthened security testing and evaluation processes.

My pants, sadly, are not actually feeling bone dry yet.

How about yours?