Information Security Emerging Cybersecurity Issues Threaten Federal Information Systems Report To Congressional Requesters

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent agency that works for Congress. The GAO watches over Congress, and investigates how the federal government spends taxpayers dollars. The Comptroller General of the United States is the leader of the GAO, and is appointed to a 15-year term by the U.S. President. The GAO wants to support Congress, while at the same time doing right by the citizens of the United States. They audit, investigate, perform analyses, issue legal decisions and report anything that the government is doing. This is one of their reports.

Fed. agencies are facing a set of cybersecurity threats that are the result of increasingly sophisticated methods of attack & the blending of once distinct types of attack into more complex & damaging forms. Examples of these threats include: spam (unsolicited commercial e-mail), phishing (fraudulent messages to obtain personal or sensitive data), & spyware (software that monitors user activity without user knowledge or consent). This report determines: the potential risks to fed. systems from these emerging cybersecurity threats; the fed. agencies' perceptions of risk & their actions to mitigate them, fed. & private-sector actions to address the threats on a nat. level; & governmentwide challenges to protecting fed. systems from these threats. Illus.

Pervasive and sustained cyber attacks continue to pose a potentially devastating threat to the systems and operations of the fed. gov¿t. Many nation states, terrorist networks, and organized criminal groups have the capability to target elements of the U.S. info. infrastructure for intelligence collection, intellectual property theft, or disruption. The dependence of fed. agencies on info. systems to carry out essential, everyday operations can make them vulnerable to an array of cyber-based risks. This statement describes: (1) cyber threats to fed. info. systems and cyber-based critical infrastructures; (2) control deficiencies that make fed. systems vulnerable to those threats; and (3) opportunities that exist for improving fed. cybersecurity.

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Pervasive and sustained cyber attacks continue to pose a potentially devastating threat to the systems and operations of the fed. government. In recent months, fed. officials have cited the continued efforts of foreign nations and criminals to target government and private sector networks; terrorist groups have expressed a desire to use cyber attacks to target the U.S.; and press accounts have reported attacks on the Web sites of government agencies. This statement describes: (1) cyber threats to fed. information systems and cyber-based critical infrastructures; (2) control deficiencies at fed. agencies that make these systems and infrastructures vulnerable to cyber threats; and (3) opportunities that exist for improving fed. cybersecurity.