GAO Questions DHS Commitment to Private IT Protection

This was written by Michael Cheek on Thursday, October 29, 2009, 10:24.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has questioned the Department of Homeland Security’s commitment to adequately protecting private IT critical infrastructure in a new report released Wednesday. DHS officials strongly deny the accusation and maintain that they are committed to working with the private sector to enhance national cyber security.

The GAO report claims that certain DHS agencies have not updated their sector plans to encompass new DHS cyber security requirements. The GAO report claimed that this lack of follow through demonstrated that DHS was not committed to making private sector cyber security a priority. DHS officials argued that the report failed to take into account current programs that are being conducted.