	Background

Dramatic increases in computer interconnectivity, especially in the use of  the Internet, continue to revolutionize the way our government, our  nation, and much of the world communicate and conduct business. However, this widespread interconnectivity also poses significant risks to  our computer systems and, more important, to the critical operations and  infrastructures they support, such as telecommunications, power  distribution, public health, national defense (including the military’s  warfighting capability), law enforcement, government, and emergency  services. Since September 1996, we have reported that poor information security is  a widespread federal problem with potentially devastating consequences.Although agencies have taken steps to redesign and strengthen their  information system security programs, our analyses of information  security at major federal agencies have shown that federal systems were  not being adequately protected from computer-based threats, even though  these systems process, store, and transmit enormous amounts of sensitive  data and are indispensable to many federal agency operations.
What GAO Found

Provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001 seek to minimize pervasive information security weaknesses that place federal operations at significant risk of disruption, tampering, fraud, and inappropriate disclosure of sensitive information. Increases in computer interconnectivity, especially in the use of the Internet, pose significant risks to computer systems and to the critical operations and infrastructures they support, such as telecommunications, power distribution, public health, national defense, law enforcement, and emergency services. Although federal agencies have taken steps to redesign and strengthen their information security programs, federal systems are not being adequately protected from computer-based threats, even though these systems process, store, and transmit enormous amounts of sensitive data and are indispensable to many federal agency operations.