[icon name=”newspaper-o” class=”” unprefixed_class=””] Security Today | [icon name=”user-o” class=”” unprefixed_class=””] Mike Schultz, CEO of Cybernance

Over the past few years, the U.S. has seen a devastating wave of high-profile security breaches, both in the government and corporate sectors. A report by Privacy Rights Clearinghouse revealed that federal and state government agencies publicly disclosed a total of 203 data breaches over the past five years.

In all, the breaches resulted in nearly 47 million records being stolen, exposed or otherwise compromised. While these figures are significantly less than those reported in the private sector, the issue lies in the type of sensitive information involved in government breaches, and the critical implications of that information falling into the wrong hands. The Justice Department’s recent announcement that Russian cyber terrorists were responsible for the Yahoo breach also sheds new light on the growing magnitude of cyber terrorist activity in the U.S.— and the harsh financial and legal impacts it can have on agency heads and stakeholders.

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