The State of Cybersecurity

Federal agencies surge to combat ever-growing threats—but is it enough?

This year has brought major changes to government cybersecurity, including a new Homeland Security office authorized to tackle long-range cyber challenges and new initiatives to shore up the cybersecurity of government supply chains and expel risky contractors.

Federal agencies are also preparing for a host of new cyber reporting metrics and doubling down on efforts to force employees to practice good cyber hygiene, such as not clicking on suspicious links.

A running theme among these efforts is that, despite a surge in government cybersecurity efforts over the past few years, most analysts agree government networks are no more secure than they were before the 2015 Office of Personnel Management data breach.

Critical infrastructure, such as airports and hospitals, also remain highly vulnerable to criminal and nation-state hackers despite efforts by the Homeland Security Department and other federal agencies to help secure them.

This ebook looks at some of the government’s major efforts of the past year to respond to that increasing threat and how its agencies are faring. – Next Gov