Months After the US Government Shutdown, Cybersecurity is Still Suffering

infosecurity | May 08, 2019

It has been nearly four months since the US government shutdown ended on January 25, 2019. Yet in the wake of the record-setting event, one critical component of the federal government is still reeling: its cybersecurity workers. Furloughed for more than a month, these employees are now scrambling to patch outdated systems and sift through a massive pile of network activity logs. Making their struggle even more challenging, federal cybersecurity efforts weren’t exactly progressing efficiently or thoroughly prior to the shutdown. One recent report found that 74% of federal agencies urgently need an upgrade of their digital defenses, half of government agencies lack the ability to catalog software that runs on their networks, and only 25% of the agencies meet the Office of Management and Budget standards when it comes to identifying and assessing any evidence of a data breach.

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