Year after year the American people have been constantly warned of the impending doom that are their Social Security benefits due to fact that there are now more people collecting Social Security than paying into it. While the controversy over the future of Social Security is well known, what has not received much attention is that right now Americans are in danger of having their benefits delayed, and not just their Social Security checks. Veterans who fought for this country, and who are dependent on financial support from the Veterans Administration (VA) to purchase medicine or treatment could also see delays in receiving their money. If that wasn’t bad enough, every American due a tax refund next year could see a delay in getting that check from Uncle Sam.

These potential delays aren’t because the government doesn’t have the money to pay them and it’s not because Congressional infighting led to a government shutdown, it is because the majority of federal government buildings that house the workers from government agencies such as the Treasury Department, VA, and Social Security Administration are vulnerable to a cyber attack. However, these vulnerabilities are not what you might think.

These vulnerabilities lie in the cyber networks that control the building’s HVAC, elevators, and lighting systems. Earlier this year a report from a little known federal government agency, the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, was released and outlined how the government is failing to adequately protect these networks.

What’s even more disturbing is that the government is failing to follow current federal laws that require the government secure these networks. While a cyber attack against these networks would not indefinitely prevent the government from getting seniors and wounded warriors their money; an attack could significantly delay the transfer of billions of dollars in benefits; potentially causing unnecessary deaths of our citizens.

How could this happen? (A theoretical consequence scenario:)

Imagine, it’s August 10th, 2015 at a large federal building in Phoenix, AZ that houses the VA, Treasury Department, and Social Security Administration, the temperature outside has reached 105 degrees. Gradually, employees on all floors begin to complain their work space has become extremely uncomfortable as the temperature has reached 94 degrees inside the building. The building is eventually ordered closed, and as employees begin to leave. The facility engineers are struggling to return the building to “normal” operations.

Buildings equipped with Industrial Control Systems control facility processes such as the heating ventilation and air conditioning. Temperatures in the building continue to rise, eventually rendering all of the federal agency network servers that run each of the individual agency networks inoperable for several days. It is eventually determined the network was penetrated, and unauthorized commands were sent to the system.

The effects of this intrusion send shock waves throughout the government and once the media breaks the story, the entire country becomes concerned with the relative ease in which the attack seemed to occur. Loss of productivity, a loss of confidence in government, and a feeling of vulnerability permeates throughout the populous. Congressional hearings are held and a criminal investigation is initiated. The investigation reveals the perpetrator was an anti-government extremist who was in conflict with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and wanted the government to “pay” for what they had done to him. A review of audit logs taken from the control system of the building indicate there were numerous other trespasses on the network originating from multiple Internet Protocol (IP) addresses from as far away as Russia.

While the above was a theoretical consequence scenario of a cyber attack on a network that runs federal building physical processes, it shows that the government must secure these networks. The government owes it to its citizens; especially its wounded warriors and seniors.

This message brought to you by the homeland security professionals of Homeland InSecurity.

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