A yearly review of the federal debt has uncovered vulnerabilities in Treasury Department IT systems that could increase the risk of unauthorized access and disrupt vital operations.
The Government Accountability Office’s audit of the Bureau of Fiscal Service's financial systems identified unresolved control challenges that together represent “significant deficiency.” In all, GAO found eight new information system general control weaknesses -- two related to access controls and six related to configuration management.
Although the vulnerabilities don’t constitute a material weakness, they still require attention of those tasked with governing the Fiscal Service, the report said.
GAO said the agency hadn’t fixed many of the previously reported information system control deficiencies but it has efforts underway to resolve them. If completed successfully, those actions could address the underlying causes for the previous insufficiencies, the watchdog said.
The agency is also in the middle of a broader initiative to beef up its cyber defenses, GAO said.
The report is a limited version of the one issued by GAO to Treasury as it contains sensitive information, the watchdog said.