ABSTRACT
This chapter can provide only the most general treatment of information security issues in government. It consists of four parts they are, the first part discusses the general concept of information security, which is in large part an idyllic myth given the apparent insecurity of government, corporate, and privately owned computers and information systems. The second part discusses the types of malicious software and human activities that pose threats to information security in both the public and the private sectors, bursting the myth of information security. The third part illustrates the severity of the information insecurity problem. The fourth part offers a brief assessment of the security of government information systems which, unfortunately, does not appear to be very good over all for federal agencies and many of the states. It provides a general introduction to the technical, managerial, and public policy issues related to securing information systems.
