The U.S. Army Chief Information Officer’s office said Wednesday the department agrees with the recently released Defense Department inspector general’s report that two Army organizations failed to follow proper mobile procedures.
Margaret McBride, an Army spokeswoman, wrote April 10 the U.S. Military Academy and the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, who were cited in the IG report, “did not follow policies for tracking and configuring mobile devices using the Android, Apple iOS and Windows operating systems” between October 2010 and May 2012.
The Army said both organizations have made efforts to remedy the issues indicated in the report and highlighted a number of policies enacted since to prevent similar occurrences in the future.
“This year, the Army has published additional policies that help ensure oversight of all IT equipment, security and spending, to include commercial mobile devices,” said Lt. Gen. Susan Lawrence, the Army chief information officer.
On Feb. 1, the Army published new requirements to enforce information assurance, cybersecurity and to improve commander accountability. McBride said Army commanders must assess their IA posture and weaknesses via Army assessment tools, and develop a plan of action within five months.
She added that during a planned Armywide IA/cybersecurity awareness week this fall, commanders will train and teach their program to everyone in their command.
Lawrence said the Army continues to work with DOD to put in place systems allowing visibility and management of all commercial mobile devices and applications that connect to the DOD and Army network.
