New research reveals that 84 percent of government IT security leaders agree that sharing sensitive data across networks heightens their cyber risk, and 53 percent still rely on manual data transfer processes.
The study from Everfox surveyed 500 security leaders and IT decision makers working in government, defense, and critical services across the US and UK, found that national security organizations faced an average of 137 attempted or successful cyberattacks per week in 2025, up from 127 cyberattacks per week in 2024.
Survey respondents face numerous challenges to to being able to move data quickly and securely, which has implications for national security. 78 percent cite outdated infrastructure as a primary source of cyber vulnerability, speaking to the prevalence of analog systems and manual processes that act as weak links in secure data sharing. In addition 49 percent cited ensuring data integrity and preventing tampering in transit as their single biggest challenge when transferring information across classified or coalition networks, while 45 percent say managing identity and authentication across multiple domains is the biggest challenge to securing access to mission data across different domains.
“The battlefield is transforming, and data is becoming more and more vital to mission success. Decision advantage now hinges on the capability to share and access data at mission speed without compromising security. A new cybersecurity framework that adds a layer of data-centric security and the ability to quickly share trusted information needs to become the foundation to achieve operational resilience and mission assurance,” says Dave Wajsgras, chairman and chief executive officer at Everfox.
The full report is available from the Everfox site.
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