White House Agency Finds Federal Institutions Need to Improve Cyber Threat Awareness

The United States is known as one of the few countries around the world that have seen great advances in technology. However, a recent study found that federal agencies may need to step up their game in handling cyber threats — starting with a full awareness of the matter.

In a report recently published by the Office of Management and Budget (via TechCrunch), several findings indicate that the current measures to detect and counter cyber risks targeting U.S. federal offices need to be improved.

The OMB, as stated on its official website, is an office “overseeing the implementation” of the U.S. president’s policies and vision “across the Executive Branch.”

The 21-page report cites four findings paired with plans of action. Ultimately, OMB’s research “confirms the need to take bold approaches to improve Federal cybersecurity.” One of the substantial findings of the OMB indicates that federal agencies need to improve their awareness of the cyber threats and risks at hand.

According to the report, government institutions need to understand that cyber attackers targeting private and public IT facilities are using “persistent and increasingly sophisticated techniques.”

The research further learned that the “limited situational awareness” is manifested in the fact that federal agencies “could not identify the method of attack or attack vector.” OMB found that, as of 2016, the government offices were able to track down the attackers’ methods in only 11,802 (only 38 percent) cybersecurity incidents out of the 30,899 recorded.

At the time of OMB’s research, they found that only 59 percent of federal agencies have installed measures to effectively communicate cyber risks. These include the agencies’ efforts to immediately inform all their employees if a cyber risk or attack was discovered or observed.

OMB also pointed out that despite the growing “cyber spending” among agencies, the billions of allocations for cybersecurity within federal institutions are yet to be utilized effectively relative to the known cyber threats and risks.

To address this particular finding, the OMB deems it is necessary to enlist help from the Department of Homeland Security, National Security Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for the implementation of the Cyber Threat Framework within the next year.

As for the more effective spending of budget allocations for government’s cybersecurity, the OMB outlined a budgeting model they worked on from the last two years “to identify capability and process gaps that pose risks to the agency.”