The report which concentrated on 24 major agencies studied the use of encryption technology in these companies. According to the study carried out by the General Accountability Office during the third quarter of 2007, Agencies encrypt less than third of their laptops.
“they had not yet installed encryption technology to protect sensitive information on about 70 percent of their laptop computers and handheld devices”, read part of the study.
There has been a lot of security negligence involving government-issued laptops in the past. A good example was when a laptop of an employee with the Department of Veterans Affairs had been stolen and personal information of 26.5 million military veterans and active-duty personnel put at stake.
According to GAO, "While all agencies have initiated efforts to deploy encryption technologies, none had documented comprehensive plans to guide encryption implementation activities," said GAO in the report.
The GAO also warned Agencies on the need to keep their information inaccessible to unauthorized personnel. A section of the study reads, “As a result, federal information may remain at increased risk of unauthorized disclosure, loss, and modification."
GAO also says that personnel reported “uncertainty regarding the applicability of OMB’s encryption requirements for mobile devices, specifically portable media.”
Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 compels agencies to protect their data. The White House Office of Management and Budget also requires agencies to encrypt all sensitive data stored on mobile computers.
Source Computer World
