Not Just OPM -- Agency Cybersecurity Incidents on the Rise

The Office of Personnel Management breach affecting millions of federal employees and contractors has served to shine a bright spotlight on cyberattacks.

While the OPM hack may be one of the most devastating to hit government, the department itself is far from alone in being the target of hackers. Since 2006, the number of “information security incidents” affecting federal systems each year has steadily increased, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office released Wednesday.

In 2006, there were fewer than 6,000 reported incidents, but two years later that number had tripled. Last year, there were about 67,000 reported incidents.

“Effective cybersecurity for federal information systems is essential to preventing the loss of resources, the compromise of sensitive information, and the disruption of government operations,” stated a document accompanying the report.

Although cyberattacks are on the rise, many "information security" incidents at agencies don't refer to computers at all. 

One-quarter of all security incidents recorded in 2014 were listed as "noncyber," according to the GAO report. That's a designation that could describe paper documents improperly stored on employees' desks, for example. Malicious code accounted for only 11 percent of these incidents, and suspicious network activity was only 3 percent.