WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th September, 2018) The Department of State has failed to follow other US government agencies in upgrading security with measures like multifactor authentication and regular security audits, leaving American diplomatic communications exposed to hackers, a bipartisan group of Senators wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday.
"We are sure you will agree on the need to protect American diplomacy from cyberattacks, which is why we have such a hard time understanding why the Department of State has not followed the lead of many other agencies and complied with Federal law requiring agency use of [multifactor authentication]," the letter stated.
The letter noted a recent audit by the State Department Inspector General that found 33 percent of US diplomatic missions had failed to conduct even the most basic cyber threat management practices, like regular reviews and audits, said the letter signed by Republican Senators Cory Gardner and Rand Paul, as well as Democrats Ron Wyden, Ed Markey and Jeanne Shaheen.
Email accounts of State Department personnel serving at embassies and other overseas outposts are especially vulnerable, the lawmakers explained.
The senators asked Pompeo to respond by October 12 explaining actions taken to rectify cyber security deficiencies and for an account of the number of cyber attacks on diplomatic outposts during the past three years.
