The U.S. Office of Management and Budget recently released its annual report and found the number of cyber incidents decreased by 12% in 2018 compared to 2017.
The agency's annual report on the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) found that 31,107 incidents were recorded in 2018, compared to 35,277 reported in 2017.
In 2018, the Department of Homeland Security conducted 61 HVA assessments, yielding 356 findings (221 System Architecture Review findings and 135 Risk and Vulnerability Assessment findings).
The assessments found the top five common security vulnerabilities, which include lack of data protection, lack of network segmentation, inconsistent patch management, lack of strong authentication, and lack of continuous monitoring. The report also found that improper usage and phishing emails remain the top attack vector; improper usage accounted for 9,674 cyber incidents and 6,930 incidents were reported as a result of a phishing attack. However, 27% of all incidents reported in 2018 did not have an attack vector.
The report indicates that the implementation of privileged network access management hit 94% of the target goal, but the implementation of software asset management went down to 58% in 2018.
While reported cyber incidents have decreased, the DHS security assessments found that the federal government continues to have issues mitigating basic security vulnerabilities. NNT suggests starting off by implementing the CIS Controls, namely Controls 1-6 (Basic CIS Controls), to mitigate the majority of basic security vulnerabilities. Simply because, the first six CIS Controls have been proven to prevent up to 90% of devastating cyber-attacks – even better, implementing all twenty can reduce your cyber risk by nearly 95%.
Visit our CIS Controls page to learn more
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