EPA Forced to Shut Down Web Site

RiskWorld news article by Amy Charlene Reed, senior editor, reed@tec-com.com
February 17, 2000 -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was forced to shut down its web site on Wednesday, removing its vast on-line resources from the Internet. The unexpected move apparently occurred in response to pressure by the Chairman of the U.S. House Commerce Committee, Rep. Tom Bliley, R-Va.,  who feared that the EPA web site was vulnerable to potential hacker attacks.

"It is unfortunate that the American people temporarily will not have access to the important public information contained on the EPA website," Bliley stated today. "That sad fact is the fault of no one other than EPA Administrator Carol Browner and her management team. Had they heeded seven years of warnings by security experts and performed their duties with even a modicum of responsibility over this time, last night's shutdown would not have been necessary."

The EPA defended its security measures in a statement released today. "The Agency is constantly upgrading the security of this system and new upgrades are scheduled for installation. In the time we have been working with the Chairman and GAO [Government Accounting Office] on these issues, neither has presented the Agency with any evidence - nor does the Agency have any evidence - of the actual loss of confidential business information to unauthorized users of our computer systems. We are taking all necessary steps to prevent unauthorized access to our system."

The GAO report titled "Fundamental Weaknesses that Place EPA Data and Operations at Risk" that sparked the showdown over EPA's web site is available on line at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/ai00097t.pdf 

EPA's press office has no information on when the web site will be back online for the approximately 10 million viewers who access the site annually.

Posted February 17, 2000

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