Audit highlights rise increase in US Ggovernment &ldquo;cyber incidents&rdquo;

A White House audit has revealed that the US Ggovernment suffered 77k,000 “cyber incidents” in 2015, marking a 10% YoY year-on-year increase. The review argues that part of this rise reflects improvements by federal agencies in identifying incidents, and furthermore that only a small number of the incidents would be considered to be significant data breaches. The report reveals that: “Despite unprecedented improvements in securing federal information resources malicious actors continue to gain unauthorised access to, and compromise, federal networks, information systems, and data.” The security and intelligence agencies continue to warn that cyber attacks are the most serious risks that the US faces.

The US government was hit by more than 77,000 "cyber incidents" such as data thefts or other security breaches in fiscal year 2015, a 10 per cent increase over the previous year, according to a White House audit.





Part of the uptick stems from federal agencies improving their ability to identify and detect incidents, the annual performance review from the Office and Management and Budget says.





The report, released on Friday, defines cyber incidents broadly as "a violation or imminent threat of violation of computer security policies, acceptable use policies, or standard computer security practices".





Only a small number of the incidents would be considered as significant data breaches.





National security and intelligence officials have long warned cyber attacks are among the most serious threats facing the United States.





President Barack Obama asked Congress in February for $US19 billion for cyber security funding across the government in his annual budget request, an increase of $US5 billion over the previous year.





The government's Office of Personnel Management was victim of a massive hack that began in 2014 and was detected last year.





About 22 million current and former federal employees and contractors in addition to family members had their Social Security numbers, birthdays, addresses and other personal data pilfered in the breach.





That event prompted the government to launch a 30-day "cyber security sprint" to boost cyber security within each federal agency by encouraging adoption of multiple-factor authentication and addressing other vulnerabilities.



