Feds grade themselves high despite legacy gaps

Federal agency leaders are exhibiting a striking disconnect between their self-assessed cybersecurity posture and the persistent reality of outdated infrastructure, according to a new EY report that reveals 85% of decision-makers award their organizations an "A" or "B" grade for resilience, reports Cybersecurity Dive.

This optimism persists despite only one in five respondents having actually completed a full transition to modern, secure technology platforms, with roughly half still mired in planning or mid-transformation phases. While 56% prioritize cybersecurity improvements and 54% target legacy system replacement, the enthusiasm for adopting artificial intelligence as a defensive tool has yet to translate into scaled deployment. Half of all agency AI projects remain confined to pilot programs or conceptual planning, hampered largely by the difficulty of weaving new intelligence into brittle, aging architectures.

Notably, concerns about safeguarding critical infrastructure and hardening supply chains garnered comparatively low interest, cited by just 36% and 35% of leaders, respectively. The findings suggest that while federal brass feels confident about future readiness, a significant execution gap remains between perceived grades and the tangible modernization required to validate them.