Why Did Federal Agencies See Fewer Breaches in 2018?

In 2018, federal agencies did not sustain a “major” data breach that affected more than 100,000 individuals or caused “demonstrable harm” to the government, national security, foreign relations, or the economy, according to a new White House report. The total number of incidents also declined 12 percent.

One reason may be that agencies have started to increase their cyber awareness and have adopted new tools, such as frameworks to increase the use of threat intelligence and to help prioritize where money is spent on specific cybersecurity initiatives. More are also taking advantage of the National Cybersecurity Protection System, which includes the intrusion detection and prevention program known as Einstein.

However, some security experts warn that attackers may have shifted to target local and state agencies and government contractors, rather than federal agencies. In the most recent such development, some 22 units of local government in Texas recently fell victim to a coordinated ransomware attack.