The Department of Homeland Security, the government agency tasked with being the leader of the nation's cybersecurity, suffered 844 "cybersecurity incidents" within two years, a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security reported at a Congressional hearing Wednesday.

Jim Langevin, (D-R.I.) chairman of the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats, Cybersecurity and Science and Technology, said at the hearing Wednesday afternoon that the 844 incidents came during fiscal 2005 and 2006. He also said the infiltration of federal government networks and the possible theft or exploitation of information on them is one of the most critical issues confronting the country, noting that the Chinese have been "coordinating attacks against the Department of Defense for years."

According to Langevin's testimony, the incidents ranged from workstations infected with Trojans and viruses to a compromised department Web site, classified e-mails being sent over unclassified networks, unauthorized users attaching their personal computers to DHS networks and gaining access to government equipment and data. He also said the incidents included "numerous classified data spillages."

The testimony came during a hearing called Hacking the Homeland: Investigating Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities at the Department of Homeland Security. The meeting was called to follow up on what has been a series of hearings on the government's cybersecurity. A Congressional hearing was called this spring on a data breach at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and on April 19 there was a Congressional hearing focused on computer break-ins at both the Department of State and the Department of Commerce last summer.

At the April hearing, Langevin said he was "disappointed and troubled" about the state of the U.S. government's cybersecurity policies. The two computer break-ins at the Department of State and the Department of Commerce last summer, he said, are very likely deeper and more insidious than even the government has reported.

Just a few weeks after that hearing, Committee chairman Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss., joined committee members in sending a letter to Department of Homeland Security CIO Scott Charbo, requesting detailed information about the security of the department's networks.

On Wednesday, Charbo found himself in the hot seat.

"How can we expect improvements in private infrastructure cyberdefense when DHS bureaucrats aren't fixing their own configurations?" asked Thompson at the hearing. "How can we ask others to invest in upgraded security technologies when the Chief Information Officer grows the department's IT security budget at a snail's pace? How can we ask the private sector to... implement more consistent access controls when DHS allows employees to send classified e-mails over unclassified networks and contractors to attach unapproved laptops to the network?"