‘Untenable’: 3 out of 4 US govt agencies grossly unprepared to ward off cyberattack
RT.com
31 May, 2018
The majority of US government agencies are grossly unprepared and unprotected against cyberattacks, a damning new report finds. The current situation has been described as “untenable.”
The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) found 71 out of 96 government agencies have cybersecurity programs that are “at risk” or “high risk” when it comes to security.
Dozens of federal agencies are unable to deal with cyberattacks on their networks, the Federal Cybersecurity Risk Determination Report and Action Plan revealed. The report was commissioned in response to Executive Order 13800, which requires all federal agencies submit risk assessment reports.
“Federal agencies possess neither robust risk management programs nor consistent methods for notifying leadership of cybersecurity risks across the agency,” the report found, without naming the agencies it details.
Unaware of system hacks
The OMB looked at cyberattacks on federal systems in 2016 that compromised information or functionality, and found over a third of the 30,899 compromises of systems in 2016 never had a threat identified – meaning the agencies were not even aware if they were hacked.
This leaves the agencies at further risk as, if they are unable to detect a compromise, they won’t be able to learn who carried it out and how.
The report also found 73 percent of the agencies can’t tell when data exfiltration attempts are made, and therefore can’t detect when large volumes of information leave their network. More worryingly, not many agencies are even testing their capabilities to detect security breaches.
The news is particularly alarming given the 2015 breach of the Office of Personnel Management, which saw the theft of the fingerprints of 5.6 million federal employees.
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