According to Thales e-Security's
2018 Data Threat Report—Federal Government Edition, US federal agencies are experiencing more data breaches than other sectors. The report
reveals that 71% of IT security professionals in US federal agencies disclosed that at least one breach had occurred at their respective agencies. Ironically, these revelations came to light in the midst of an escalation in IT security spending by the US government, which is expected to continue to increase in 2018. One thing that is at stake by not adequately addressing federal cybersecurity is the the personal data of over 330 million Americans.
Additionally, while there has been an uptick in government agencies moving to the cloud, only 23% of those agencies are using encryption. Moreover, of those using encryption on the cloud, 34% lack full control because the cloud providers possess the encryption keys. In these cases, a third party is actually in charge of government data.
The Issues at Hand
Meanwhile, the US has experienced a battery of cyberattacks--the frequency of which led the World Economic Forum (WEF) to list cyberattacks as the
third largest global threat in 2018, in its 2018 Global Risks Report. For instance, the potential use of cyberattacks in targeting critical infrastructure has become a major concern because of the devastating impact it could have. Most recently, several power plants fell victim to an attack. It was
described as a “multi-pronged, coordinated attack” in which the attackers “conducted network reconnaissance, moved laterally, and collected information pertaining to Industrial Control Systems” and is outlined in a
report from the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT). Below is an excerpt from that report:
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