Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008 | 2:04 a.m.
The Homeland Security Department has a little problem with security. This month a hacker made more than 400 calls through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s phone system.
Federal officials say the calls cost FEMA about $12,000. The hackers exploited a technological hole in the voice mail system at the agency’s Maryland training center, allowing them to make the calls to the Middle East and Asia, including Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, India and Yemen.
Adding insult to irony, Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, had warned Americans five years ago about hackers doing the same thing.
John Jackson, a St. Louis security consultant, told the Associated Press the hackers used a low-tech, “old school” approach, saying the method was popular 10 to 15 years ago.
The hackers were stopped only when Sprint, which provides FEMA’s phone service, noticed something unusual and blocked all long-distance calls.
FEMA spokesman Tom Olshanski said a contractor recently failed to close a “hole” in the phone system when upgrading the voice mail. He said the problem has been fixed and the agency has been investigating the problem, although finding the hackers may be impossible.
The federal government should be ashamed of such a breach of security, and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff should give a full explanation of how that happened and how he will prevent it from happening again.
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy