From: GCN

By Stephen Treglia

Government agencies have been subject to criticism of late due to the ongoing struggles with data protection. While the public sector accounted for only 11 percent of all data breaches in 2014, according to a survey by the Identity Theft Resource Center, government data breaches are among the most highly criticized. In the private sector, the loss of trust after a data breach results in greater customer churn and reduced profits. In the public sector, relationships are not bound by the same economics; those affected by a data breach either have no fiscal resource to express their loss of trust or no alternative service provider. What we see instead is a loss of faith in the competency of governments as a whole. In order to bolster confidence among their constituents, government agencies need to dramatically increase their accountability towards data security.

According to the Government Accountability Office, data breaches at government agencies involving personally identifiable information have increased by 91 percent in the past eight years, rising from 5,503 data breaches in 2006 to a staggering 67,168 in 2014. This year, the series of data breaches at the Office of Personnel Management affected more than 21.5 million people. This breach places sensitive information such as military records at risk, triggering reactions throughout the government sector.

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