White House: government cybersecurity improving, more work to do

[August 01, 2015]  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. federal agencies have increased cybersecurity measures since the hacking at the Office of Personnel Management, but more work is necessary to help prevent further attacks, the results of a 30-day effort to raise standards showed on Friday.

The White House's Office of Management and Budget kicked off a "cybersecurity sprint" last month after the hacks that put the personal data of more than 22 million Americans at risk, directing agencies to strengthen their networks and report back.

In a blog post about that effort, the White House's Chief Information Officer Tony Scott said federal civilian agencies had increased use of "strong authentication for privileged and unprivileged users" from 42 percent to 72 percent.

Many were still not up to the highest standards set by OMB, however.

"We still have more work to do," Scott said.

A team of more than 100 government and private industry experts are reviewing the government's cybersecurity "policies, procedures and practices" and will issue an assessment in the coming months, he said.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

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