Hackers have taken over from careless workers and foreign Governments as the greatest cyber risk for United States Public Services, a new report has found.
The SolarWinds Public Sector Cybersecurity Survey Report found that hackers, at 56 per cent, were the largest source of security threats for public sector organisations in 2021, followed by careless or untrained employees (52 per cent) and foreign Governments (47 per cent).
It is the first time in five years that careless insiders were not listed as the top security threat.
The report also shows State and Local Governments were more likely than other public sector groups to be concerned about the threat of hackers and that concern about ransomware (66 per cent), malware (65 per cent) and phishing (63 per cent) increased the most over the past year.
Meanwhile, 50 per cent of State Government respondents and 25 per cent of Local Governments indicated that budget constraints were an obstacle to maintaining or improving IT security.
According to the report, Government respondents suggested improving investigative and remediation capabilities and reducing barriers to sharing threat information between public and private sectors as the top priorities for compliance with the White House Cybersecurity Executive Order.
The Executive Order directs the removal of any contractual barriers and requires IT service providers to share breach information that could impact Government networks.
SolarWinds contracted Market Connections to design and conduct its online survey of 200 Federal, 100 State and Local Public Servants and 100 education decision-makers and influencers.
Washington, 16 January 2022
