Bipartisan Group of Senators Blasts State Department Over Cyber Standards

The State Department should adopt basic cybersecurity measures like multifactor authentication and regular security audits “to protect against phishing, hacks and other” attacks, senators wrote in a letter released Wednesday. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Cory Gardner, R-Colo.; Ed Markey, D-Mass.; Rand Paul, R-Ky.; and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., signed the letter to Secretary Mike Pompeo. “The Department of State’s Inspector General (IG) found last year that 33 percent of diplomatic missions failed to conduct even the most basic cyber threat management practices, like regular reviews and audits,” the group wrote. “The IG also noted that experts who tested these systems ‘successfully exploited vulnerabilities in email accounts of Department personnel as well as Department applications and operating systems.'” The department got the letter, a spokesperson emailed: "Congressional correspondence is carefully reviewed before an appropriate response is provided.”