Intellectual property crime in the cyber age has long been a concern, with one notable estimate putting the loss by American business at $1 trillion.
However, a new report by the Commerce Departmentâs inspector general suggests the agency tasked with promoting economic growth needs to secure its own networks as well.
According to the Commerce Department’s IG, the agencyâs cybersecurity is ânot adequate.”
The report identified four areas of concern:
1)Â Â Â Â Â The risk of a serious breach because of serious vulnerabilities is higher than once thought.
2)Â Â Â Â Â The process for reporting and tracking security weaknesses is deficient.
3)Â Â Â Â Â Inadequate contingency planning threatens the ability to restore data after a disruption.
4)Â Â Â Â Â âPersistent deficienciesâ reduce the overall level of information assurance.
The IG recommends the agency revise its current cybersecurity practices by âproviding specific implementation guidance that will ensure more effective and consistent practices acrossâ the Commerce Deptartment.
The report also advises further action from management so that the deficiencies can be ârectified.â
The Patent and Trademark Office is particularly vulnerable, FierceGovernmentIT reports. The report found 30.5 vulnerabilities per computer even though previous internal audits found only 1.7 vulnerabilities per computer.
There has been little official response to the report, according to FierceGovernmentIT. The IGâs report says Commerceâs Chief Information Officer Simon Szykman âconcurred with our findings and recommendations.â