Federal Cyber Security Incidents Jump 650% in Five Years

By Alice Lipowicz
GCN.com
October 4, 2011

Federal agencies have been told for years that enterprise secerurity is not keeping up with cyber threats. The Government Accountability Office now has released hard data to back up that assertion, with a report stating that Information security incidents at 24 federal agencies have increased 650 percent during the last five years due to a combination of more numerous threats and persistent shortcomings in security controls.

GAO said it had previously made hundreds of recommendations on how to improve the agencies’ information protection practices and their compliance with the Federal Information Security Management Act, but although agencies mostly agreed with the need to beef up security, implementation was spotty and hacking and unauthorized access incidents continued to rise. As a result, the agencies had a 650 percent rise in security incidents, from 5,503 in fiscal 2006 to 41,776 in fiscal 2010, GAO said.

“Weaknesses in information security policies and practices at 24 major federal agencies continue to place the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive information and information systems at risk,” GAO concluded.

“Until hundreds of recommendations are implemented and program weaknesses are corrected, agencies will continue to face challenges in securing their information and information systems,” the report said.

Article Source: http://gcn.com/articles/2011/10/04/federal-it-security-incidents-rise-650-percent-gao.aspx