In the public sector the risks of data breaches are vast, costing millions in halted or impacted operations, lost revenue, data recovery and more. Allied to this is the loss of integrity and reputation when personal and critical data is compromised; as well as the potential for public services - such as national electricity grids – to be disrupted. With governments holding so much sensitive data on citizens, weak data security also poses a real risk to incite cyber-terrorism from international crime syndicates.
Public sector institutions and agencies are prone to facing three types of risks: insider threats, outsider threats and trusted computer-based threats. Within each of these categories the tactics rapidly evolve – demanding high level of awareness and security measures.