Interior Department computers sitting ducks for hackers

The Interior Department failed to fix its computer network after being warned of vulnerabilities to security system. The warning was issued last year by the Interior's then-inspector general, Earl A. Devaney, but made public only last week. And guess what? Little has been done to fix it.

"It is unfathomable anyone could give assurance the department's network is secure," Devaney wrote, adding that the department had "persistently failed to meet minimum standards in information security."

The Washington Post says that as a result, nearly 70 percent of network traffic leaving the Interior Department through a single gateway in January 2008 was headed for unknown hostile countries, according to the report. The disclosure about the Interior's faulty computer system was revealed in a lengthy case involving a lawsuit by Native Americans. They claim that the government has mismanaged lands held in trusts for the Native Americans.

The latest snafu leaves just one big question: Who's going to fix Interior's computers and how soon?

For more on Interior's computer security problems:
- check out this WashingtonPost.com article