If there is a reason to have hope that agencies actually are addressing outdated and potentially risky mission-critical systems, the five agencies that answered the call from Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) provided a little optimism.
The Defense Department told the Senator that in June it finished an update to an Air Force system, which the Government Accountability Office in June 2019 deemed moderately high in risk to mission and moderate in cybersecurity risk.
The Education Department, which GAO said a year ago didn’t have a plan to modernize its systems, now does, and it includes the release of a new solicitation this fall to modernize the Federal Student Aid system that is 46 years old and considered high risk to mission and cybersecurity. Education said it plans to release an updated system by October 2022.