Gov’t Information Security Incidents Increased 1,121% in Decade

Federal agencies’ information at ‘high risk’

The majority of federal agencies have not addressed significant weaknesses in cyber security, as security incidents increased by more than 1,000 percent in less than a decade, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Federal employee and taxpayer information remains at "high risk," according to a new audit. The GAO reviewed the security systems of 24 federal agencies between last December and September 2015.

"Federal agencies’ information and systems remain at a high risk of unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification, and disruption," the GAO said. "These risks are illustrated by the wide array of cyber threats, an increasing number of cyber incidents and breaches of PII [personally identifiable information] occurring at federal agencies."

The report said the number of security incidents across the federal government has skyrocketed in the past decade. In 2006, there were only 5,503 security incidents. Last year the number rose to 67,168—an increase of 1,121 percent.

The number of incidents that involved personally identifiable information (PII) has also increased, more than doubling from 10,481 in 2009 to 27,624 in 2014.

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