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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 said.
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
that cyber attacks are among the most serious threats facing the
United States. President Barack Obama asked Congress last month
for $19 billion for cyber security funding across the government
in his annual budget request, an increase of $5 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. Some
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.
“Despite unprecedented improvements in securing federal
information resources … malicious actors continue to gain
unauthorized access to, and compromise, federal networks,
information systems, and data,” the report said.
(Reporting by Dustin Volz; Editing by Alistair Bell)
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