Department of Justice report says FBI getting more careful, but still needs work
The FBI is losing fewer laptops — and weapons — these days than it used to, but the criminal justice organization still needs better controls in place to protect its assets, including potentially sensitive data.
A report issued this month by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General Audit Division follows up on 2002 report in which the FBI was found to have lost or had stolen 354 weapons and 317 laptops over a 28-month period (October 1999 to January 2002). The new report found that 160 laptops and 160 weapons had been lost or stolen during a 44-month period between February 2002 and September 2005.
The number of laptops lost fell from 10.7 a month during the first study to 2.6 in the second. Contents on these laptops included everything from software for creating ID badges to the system security plan for an electronic access control system.
“We recognize that in an organization the size of the FBI, some weapons and laptops will inevitably be stolen or go missing,” the report states. “However, it is important that the FBI take appropriate steps to minimize these losses. When losses occur, the FBI must timely report the loss, be able to identify the contents of lost laptops, and determine whether the laptop is encrypted.”
The auditors found that the FBI had not followed through thoroughly enough on several recommendations from the earlier report. “Perhaps most troubling, the FBI could not determine in many cases whether the lost or stolen laptop computers contained sensitive or classified information. Such information may include case information, personal identifying information or classified information on FBI operations.”
The new report includes 13 recommendations for the FBI to clean up its asset oversight.
