The seemingly constant stream of viruses, worms, rootkits, denial-of-service (DoS) attacks and other security threats underscore how the government’s network perimeter has expanded and blurred, as the proliferation of mobile and remote users has grown. A whopping 92% of those surveyed said they expect to spend at least as much, if not more for information security threat prevention in the coming year. The average annual agency budget for IT security threat prevention, across all levels of government was reported at $2.75 million.Read More Here

Progressive or leading edge agencies expressed concern about the proliferation of mobile devices and the impact of cloud computing on security, and are most likely to be investigating single-sign on authentication alternatives, in their ongoing efforts to improve agency IT threat prevention infrastructures. The proliferation of mobile devices with confidential information and access to internal systems was viewed as an increasing security concern, by 78% of respondents. Read More Here

IT security audits are conducted to test and ensure an agency’s IT assets are, in fact, protected. Not surprisingly, those respondents who reported failing an IT security audit were also more apt to increase their budgets for IT security protections. Since agencies undergo both external security audits as well as internal audits, the survey results indicated that nearly 20% of respondents had failed at least one external audit and 22% had failed at least one recent internal security audit. Read More Here

Although a lack of adequate protection against data loss or leaks is considered a serious problem, survey respondents to the 1105 Government Information Group Content Solutions Information Security Survey, said investments in content security and data loss prevention were not as high on the priority list, as were investments in intrusion detection, firewalls, VPNs, IP security and continuous monitoring. Data loss prevention (DLP) helps ensure that sensitive personal information and classified information housed on government networks remains safe and secure.Read More Here

In the 1105 Government Information Group’s survey, respondents were asked to select the tools they turn to most to help reduce risks associated with a broad array of information security threats. Firewalls and virtual private network services, along with anti-malware, anti-spam, encryption, authentication, content filtering, intrusion detection and continuous monitoring topped the list of tools to protect government resources. Read More Here