Image via Wikipedia
Less than one third of federal agencies using social media have created safeguards against hackers looking to exploit their accounts to launch cyber attacks against government networks, according to a report released Thursday.
The report by the Government Accountability Office found that nearly all — 23 of 24 — major federal agencies are now using Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to provide information about agency activities and interact with the public. But just seven agencies have identified and documented security risks and taken measures to prevent hackers from using those sites to gain access to federal information systems, the report found.
The study found some agencies had taken security measures for social media. For example, the report found the Department of Health and Human Services blocks the use of social media sites by employees except for those using them for business needs. But the State Department told GAO investigators they had no plans to assess the agency’s social media security because its internal policies did not require it.
