Canada: Security gaps in federal computers

A post in CNEWS indicates that Canadian government privacy protection may not be as far ahead of the US in practice as it is in theory.

"The personal information of Canadians is at risk due to 'significant weaknesses' in government computer security that leave the digital door open to hackers and thieves, says the auditor general. In a highly critical report Tuesday, Sheila Fraser warns that federal agencies have failed to keep up with the demands of the electronic age, making sensitive files vulnerable. 'If security weaknesses allowed someone to access a database or confidential information, Canadians' trust in the government would be greatly eroded,' the report says. 'Further, if a citizen's privacy were violated because of a failure to keep confidential information secure, it could cause that person hardship and seriously undermine the government's efforts to deliver services to Canadians electronically.' Fraser told a news conference she was disappointed the government doesn't meet its own minimum standards for information technology security, even though most of them have been well known for more than a decade."