Wireless Security Puts IRS Data At Risk

[HardOCP News]

The Inspector General for the Internal Revenue Service says that offices across the country using wireless technology are vulnerable to hackers. Yikes.

Despite efforts to improve wireless security the past four years, the Inspector General's assessment of 20 buildings in 10 cities discovered four separate locations at which hackers could have easily gained access to IRS computers using wireless technology.

 

[mpsmith]

I'm an IT Specialist in part of the DOI and while wireless is authorized, I've explicitly refused to employ wireless in our building. Users are allowed to while traveling (it would be almost impossible not to), but I just don't want to deal with the major security issues inherent in current wireless solutions.

 

[Jabroni31169]

802.11i was created for a reason. Why the goverment isnt using it yet is beyond me. The way we (banks) get audited by the feds you would think they would hold true to that standard as well.

 

[mpsmith]

You have to understand that it takes the federal government a while to approve the use of various technologies. We (my bureau at least) were not allowed to use wireless until last summer. New standards require new approval. It's pretty sad. That being said, there are security requirements for such networks that may not have been followed in this instance- the article does not go into specifics.

 

[Jabroni31169]

I understand approval....I have to do the same thing with new tech. But when its widely known that WEP is worthless, that should be a bit of a hint to move forward onto a technology that was created to secure wireless instead of the band-aid called WEP. Even WPA-PSK would of been a step up.