Published September 2021
Sponsored by Anomali, BIO-key International, KnowBe4, Mimecast, Progress MOVEit, and Virsec
Executive Summary
The term “government” covers a diverse collection of organizations in most countries—federal and central government agencies, state, local and tribal government organizations, municipalities, city councils, local law enforcement agencies, and more. With this variety comes a diversity of purpose, organizational size, attack attractiveness, and cybersecurity maturity across such organizations.
As an overall sector, government entities face a plethora of cybersecurity threats, including ransomware, business email compromise, phishing, and data breaches. Many are underprepared for the relentless onslaught of attacks. Currently, the single issue of highest concern across governments is susceptibility to ransomware attacks, both on systems like email and document sharing and critical infrastructure; the responsibility for the latter is often vested in private entities.
This white paper explores the current state of cybersecurity threats, preparedness, and response capability in the government sector. It offers direction to decision-makers and influencers working in the government sector on increasing the maturity and effectiveness of cybersecurity protections in government.
