The Social Security Administration presents an inviting target for hackers. But IT officials maintain that so far at least, outsiders have not been able to find their way in.
As a precaution, SSA employs penetration testers — outsiders who try to hack into agency systems — and those efforts have identified some weaknesses that required mitigation. Marti Eckert, the agency’s chief information security officer, told lawmakers during a May 26 hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that an August 2015 test resulted in nine security recommendations that were addressed.
