Information security remains a serious problem for most federal agencies, according to the Government Accountability Office.(Washington Insider)

Set-Aside Alert, February, 2008

Information security remains a serious problem for most federal agencies, according to the Government Accountability Office.

"Significant weaknesses continue to threaten the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of critical information and information systems used to support the operations, assets and personnel of federal agencies," GAO said.

The number of security incidents reported by agencies to the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) more than tripled from 2005 to 2007.

Despite progress, 20 of 24 major agencies reported that inadequate information security controls were either a significant deficiency or a material weakness in 2007.