The hacking group Anonymous tweeted on Wednesday that they were leaking employee details after yet another government hack, this time on the Census Bureau.
The information leaked consisted of employee names, phone numbers, emails, and even passwords. This most recent attack only affirms Veracode’s 2015 “State of Software Security” report that once again ranked government the worst in terms of cyber vulnerability.
There is no doubt that the public sector has been remarkably slower at adapting to cyber issues than the private sector. Veracode’s report also found that government agencies don’t even fix one-third of all the problems they discover. Those are stark numbers, especially when contrasted with financial service firms, who fix 81%, and manufacturing companies, who fix 65%.
After President Obama announced the 30 day cybersecurity sprint in response to the OPM breach, many agencies did a great job at increasing their security–but it stands to be seen whether or not such efforts will be sufficient. Hiring top talent in the cybersecurity field must become a top priority, or the government will continue playing catch-up after attacks occur rather than thwarting them beforehand.