100% of government IT workers said employees are biggest threat to cybersecurity

[LASER_oneXM]

Only 14% of government organizations consider themselves to be well-protected against cyber threats, according to a report from Netwrix. Here's why.

The government sector lags behind others in implementing modern cybersecurity defenses, according to a new report from security firm Netwrix. This failure to update has led to an increase in breaches: 72% of government entities worldwide had their security compromised in 2016, the report found. And only 14% of government organizations consider themselves to be well-protected against cyber threats.

Government agencies are targeted by hackers due to the sensitive information they store, including citizens' data (such as addresses, driver's license numbers, Social Security numbers, financial data, and healthcare records). They also house information critical to local or national security. Other hackers are interested in gaining access to important infrastructure to damage control systems or disrupt public services, the report noted.

However, the main threat is less nefarious than you may expect: Employees. A whopping 100% of IT specialists working for government agencies worldwide said they see employees as the biggest threat to security. In 2016, human error caused security incidents in 57% of government entities, and system downtime for 14% of them. Additionally, 43% of government IT professionals said they investigated security incidents that involved insider misuse.