With the number of data breaches reported in 2015 keeping pace with 2014's record total, as well as the looming consequences of the massive Office of Personnel Management data compromise, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has kicked off an anti-phishing campaign.
The national intelligence office launched the government-wide awareness campaign to prevent future data breaches in federal information technology systems.
"In 91% of the breaches we've seen in the government and private sector over the last several years, the attacks emanated from spear phishing," Bill Evanina, ODNI's national counterintelligence executive, said at the Intelligence & National Security Summit in Washington. "Our adversaries do not need to use sophisticated attacks, it all starts with emails."
Called "Know the Risk, Raise Your Shield," the initiative began with two spear phishing awareness videos that urge individuals not to click on risky links. The program is set to expand its scope through social media over the next four months.
The campaign also focuses on reducing the potential damages resulting from the OPM data breaches that exposed more than 21.5 million records.
"That puts [the victims] in a vulnerability bracket they've never been in before," Evanina said.
The campaign aims to help government employees, contractors and other current and potential breach victims protect themselves, Evanina said.
"It's something we all need to do, [since spear phishing is] not going away," he said. "If just a few people don't click the link, it could prevent another huge breach in the future. If someone hadn't clicked on a link before, it could have kept a whole lot of [personal identifying data] from being stolen. We need to be up front about what we can do to help the victims of this breach and future victims."
Evanina said criminals do not need to use sophisticated techniques to compromise systems.
"It's one email," he said. "There have been just over 500 breaches so far this year, some of which made the news. And 47% of adult Americans have been the victim of a breach in the last three years. That data is an opportunity for criminals, but it's also allowed foreign intelligence to collect information about government employees, contractors and their families."
ODNI has also called on the private sector to adopt the campaign materials.
As of Sept. 8, the number of breaches captured on the 2015 ITRC Breach Report totals 541, on pace with last year's number for the same time period (542). So far, this year's breaches have reportedly exposed more than 140 million records, including those compromised in the OPM breaches and the 78.8 million health care customer records exposed at Anthem in February.
The 2015 ITRC Breach List also includes the $34 million Hawaii First Federal Credit Union in Kamuela, which notified an undisclosed number of members that an unauthorized individual may have gained access to an employee's email account and accessed personal information.
The five industry sectors affected by breaches this year, according to ITRC, are: Business, 39.9%; medical/healthcare, 34.8%; banking/credit/financial, 9.6%; educational, 8.3%; and government/military, 7.4%.
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Roy Urrico
Roy W. Urrico specializes in articles about financial technology and services for Credit Union Times, as well as ghostwriting, copywriting, and case studies. Also: writer/editor of a semi-annual newsletter for Association for Financial Technology since 1997 and history projects funded by the U.S Interior Department, National Park Service and Warren County (N.Y.).
