“Many people incorrectly believe password-protected .zip files can protect sensitive data. Indeed, many password-protected .zip files can be easily broken with off-the-shelf hacking tools,” the Oregon Democrat says in a letter to NIST.

Additionally, the agency failed to protect critical information technology assets found to be vulnerable two years ago, which could lead to intellectual property theft.

Initial tests suggest agencies believe distributed ledgers will strengthen security and improve transaction services.

A new report highlights how to protect data on premises and in the cloud more effectively without sacrificing performance using centralized encryption tools.

Data encryption experts offer guidelines to agency leaders for assessing the effectiveness of their data encryption practices and how to build a strategy across lines of business.

DOD has been working to bring trust certificates and encryption across its public domains up to speed with industry standards for the past two to three years, Deasy wrote in a July 20 letter.