Audit finds state servers vulnerable to cyberattack

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-cyber-audit-20130425,0,3404521.story

By Erin Cox and Carrie Wells
The Baltimore Sun
April 25, 2013

Servers that host internet service for more than 30 state agencies are 
vulnerable to a cyberattack, according to a legislative audit released 
this week.

The Maryland State Archives, which oversees the five servers, did not 
update the operating systems in more than five years, auditors found. 
Without the protective software patches and updates, Internet service 
for nearly the entire state government could be at risk, Legislative 
Auditor Thomas J. Barnickel III said.

Auditors said there was no evidence of hacking, merely a weakness in the 
system that could hypothetically knock most state agencies offline or 
direct state Internet traffic to malicious sites. The audit, released 
Tuesday, also found that the archives had inadequate procedures to 
prevent loss or employee theft of its $31.4 million art collection.

The report prompted calls for a quick fix from Del. Jon Cardin, a a 
Baltimore County Democrat, who pointed out that the audit arrived on 
"the same day Wall Street suffered a near meltdown at the hands of a 
Twitter hacker."

[...]


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