Dive Brief:
- Cybersecurity incidents in the federal government were up 10% in 2015, according to an annual performance review of agency information security released by the White House on Friday.
- Federal departments reported a total of 77,183 cybersecurity incidents in 2015, according to the report.
- Though the report did not mention any specific large breaches, it warned that agencies need to do a better job of preventing employees from being tricked into revealing important data, according to NextGov.
Dive Insight:
The report attributed the rise in incidents in part to agencies enhancing their detection tools and techniques.
Federal employees are also susceptible to phishing and other "social engineering" incidents, which attempt to trick personnel into revealing information. Last year, the Pentagon had 290 "social engineering" incidents, up from 182 the year before.The military scored only 15% on its "anti-phishing" protections.
"Phishing schemes are growing increasingly sophisticated, as cybercriminals use new tools and tactics to create authentic-looking emails," Shahryar Shaghaghi, leader of BDO’s Technology Advisory Practice, said in an interview with CIO Dive.
The most common type of phishing attack today involves a criminal posing as a high-level executive in an email message to an employee with access to the desired system or information.
