http://www.newsbytes.com/news/02/175284.html By Staff, Newsbytes WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S.A., 18 Mar 2002, 5:18 PM CST Most state motor vehicle departments don't do enough to protect Social Security numbers from hackers, the federal government's investigative arm said today. The findings were part of a General Accounting Office (GAO) study that examined state DMV compliance with a federal law that requires states to harvest Social Security numbers from driver's license applications to aid in the collection of past due child support payments. The GAO found that although most motor vehicle agency officials believe that the Social Security numbers stored on their agency's computers were safe from unauthorized access, officials in 40 states also reported that their computer security programs lacked the basic components of information security plans, audits, access monitoring, and policies for password selection and use. The GAO also found that no guidelines exist regarding the components that motor vehicle agencies should include in their computer security programs. The report, submitted to the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources at the chairman's request, makes no recommendations to remedy the problem, primarily because no federal agency is responsible for overseeing computer security at state motor vehicle agencies. The GAO is at http://www.gao.gov - ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org To unsubscribe email majordomoat_private with 'unsubscribe isn' in the BODY of the mail.
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