Report: Federal Agencies Struggle With Timely Cybersecurity Data

The good news is that 81 percent of federal agencies are using data analytics for cybersecurity intelligence, but the bad news is that 59 percent of them admit they don’t know how to fully make use of that data, leading to regular data breaches and cyberattacks.

That’s one of the insights revealed in MeriTalk’s new report entitled “Navigating the Cybersecurity Equation.” MeriTalk, which provides news and analysis for government IT professionals, polled 150 Federal IT cybersecurity decision-makers and discovered that while most agencies use data analytics, only 45 percent think their efforts are effective. The report was produced in collaboration with Cloudera.

The respondents stated that the greatest challenge they’re facing is the sheer amount of data they have to analyze. They estimate 40 percent of data simply goes unanalyzed because they just can’t handle the volume.

Other challenges include the lack of systems to properly collect and analyze data, and the fact that the data is often stale by the time it reaches the people who need to see it. Respondents cited lack of funding as the main cause of these challenges, along with privacy issues and a lack of skilled employees.

“Internal and external cybersecurity threats will continue to evolve daily and we need to unlock the power of the data in order to regain the advantage,” said Rocky DeStefano, cybersecurity subject matter expert at Cloudera.

According to the report, 90 percent of big data users have seen security breaches decline as a result of information gleaned from data analytics, and said they plan to continue their efforts. Approximately 94 percent said they plan to increase their investments in data analytics over the next two years.

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