Meeting the Cybersecurity Challenge

John Slye’s GovDefenders keynote, “Meeting the Cybersecurity Challenge,” was one of the most watched presentations during this year’s annual virtual event. In it, he breaks down what federal public sector agencies are doing to combat cyber threats. His research has found that there’s been an 800% increase in reported cybersecurity incidents over the last five years.

Not only have the number of attacks increased, but agencies are still finding it hard to defend against them. 38% of reported cyber attacks are still under investigation, meaning they can’t be understood or identified.

Agencies identified that their top concerns are intrusion detection and secure information sharing. To combat that, agencies are spending 90% of their IT security budget on personnel.

His biggest takeaway from speaking with federal IT employees from the C-level down to the individual level is that there’s a huge need for strategies to align with standards and guidance. Policy is driving agency cybersecurity strategies.

Watch his full presentation below for more analysis, then register to watch our entire GovDefenders event on-demand, for free. The event features over 10 cybersecurity presentations, as well as, over 100 resources for you to enjoy.