Hackers, malware and inappropriate user behavior among threats to federal IT security

So you think your home computer is at risk of cyber attacks, spam, malware and more? Try defending the federal IT infrastructure. CDW Government, Inc. (CDW-G) released its 2009 Federal Cybersecurity Report, which found that across 300 Federal, civilian and Department of Defense agencies, the number and severity of cybersecurity incidents has stayed the same or increased in the last year. Respondents said external sources are the biggest threat overall, with defense agencies indicating state-sponsored cybersecurity-warfare as the most significant external issue. For civilian agencies hackers are among the biggest external challenges, while internal threats such as inappropriate web surfing and loss of computing devices continue to leave agencies vulnerable to cybersecurity threats. "Fundamentally, cybersecurity is not just a technology issue - it is a management and cultural challenge for Federal agencies," said Andy Lausch, vice president of federal sales for CDW-G. He added that Federal IT security professionals need the participation of the employees, managers and senior staff that they support to reduce the threat. The top problem found in the survey was malware (33 percent of respondents), followed by inappropriate network use or activity by employees (25 percent), supervision of authorized, distantly-placed user access (25 percent) and encrypted data (23 percent).