Reasonable minds can disagree on politics, but every professional reading this piece will likely agree on two things: 1) the President of the United States has an extremely difficult job; and 2) there are few challenges for our country less understood and developing more rapidly than cybersecurity and data privacy. Given the pending change in administration and uncertainty around President-elect Trump’s priorities on cybersecurity, an analysis of the current federal cyber landscape may yield insights into how the next administration might prioritize their approach on this important front.
Cybersecurity During the Obama Years
The federal government’s track record on cybersecurity and privacy concerns during the Obama administration was mixed. Over the course of eight years, the federal government had to deal with the Snowden leaks, the FBI and DOJ’s standoff with Apple over device encryption, and major breaches that exposed 26 million total combined records from the IRS, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and law enforcement. Many of those leaked records reportedly contained highly sensitive data, and the OPM’s loss of complete dossiers and fingerprints of millions of applicants for security clearances highlighted that even the most powerful government in the world is vulnerable to cyberattacks.
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