How Safe are Government Computers?

KingOfBLASH asks: "Recently, when I was in the local City Court to protest a parking ticket, I noticed that all of the computers were running Windows (some as old as Windows 95!), and there were definitely network cables snaked around them. The City Hall suffers from the same affliction. Given that some of these computers have passed the End of Life for support, and there are a number of known exploits, how safe our government computers? What damage could be done if they were attacked?" It would be interesting to note if it's just local governments that may be running lower-than-expected tech or regional governments, as well. It would also be worthwhile to hear how governments outside the US compare to their American counterparts.

Comments

private v. public

[MacAndrew]

how much information on these is machines is public record? how much of government records should be confidential? what i would worry more about is people tampering with the records, doubling my property tax and so on.

also, what if any liability does government have for misuse of information? an infamous case was a state (CA?) that gave out auto licence plate information promiscuously enabled a stalker to locate and kill a woman. for a time state governments were selling driver's license information to marketers, all the way down to the height and weight info. i worked on a proposed "violent gang database" collecting officer intelligence on alleged gang members, such as nicknames, residence, and so on -- i asked, what if the data falls in the hands on an enemy gang?

i would suggest that government should be held liable for negligent dissemination of private information, and that some sort of comprehensive plan regarding what is "private" and what is required to access private data. right now i can apparently find out how much my neighbor paid for her house, how much she gave to poilitical campaigns, where she's lived for the last 20 years -- questions i would hesitate to ask to her face (and she's nice!). what's going on here?

this touches a nerve, as you can see. :) don't get me started about identity theft! (like why is SSN used for anything OTHER THAN social security?)

Re:private v. public

[grendel_x86]

For the SSN, there was an article in the latest 2600 about how to live w/o your ssn. Living in Chicago, i have the joy of being in a place where the County accessor's office is online(Where the blues bros ended up at the end of the movie, before jail), so you can see photos, and values of any property in the city. They were driving around in unmarked vans photographing your house!!! Worse than this, the cops have small laptops hooked to a centralized db w/ all available info on you(regardless of if you have commited a crime). So when you get pulled over, they know the color of your house, how much in taxes you pay, and your mother's eye color. ( They demonstrate these so often, it isnt even novel anymore ) But there are benefits, for instance, you can see how bad the crime is in an area before you move there. I believe a balance can be struck, it just requires thought, something that is in short supply.

Re:As a county DBA/Network Technician

[Anonymous Coward]

Yet you still do not have a written policy? Why doesn't the woman in charge of the dept get fired for not doing her job?

Re:As a county DBA/Network Technician

[Anonymous Coward]

Ha! You must come from a wealthy county.

The counties that I have dealt with bitch about replacing Windows 3.51 systems and refuse to keep computers on overnight to receive patches because they bitch about electricity usage.