http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081003.AUDIT03/TPStory/National



The Canadian Press

October 3, 2008



EDMONTON -- Weak computer security across the Alberta government allowed 

sophisticated hackers to worm their way into the system, Auditor-General 

Fred Dunn reported yesterday.



Mr. Dunn says the hackers, possibly criminals from Asia or Eastern 

Europe, left signs that they had been inside Alberta's computer network.



"Footprints were there that people have gone in and looked and seen," he 

told reporters. "We don't know what they did with it, we don't know how 

it was used, but they were there."



Mr. Dunn's latest report warns that health-care records and drivers' 

licence data are not well protected.



"Confidential or sensitive information may be at risk of compromise 

without warning," says the report. "Because information security in the 

government is not consistently enforced, all information assets are 

exposed to unacceptable risk."



Mr. Dunn says his department found that hacking into government 

computers was "easier than it should have been." He says 400 computer 

systems were targeted in his review, but the investigation stopped after 

69 systems were checked.



[...]





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Received on Sun Oct 05 2008 - 23:20:57 PDT