Are we at DEFCON 1 for Data Breaches? 

How government agencies can ensure that their valuable data doesn’t fall into the wrong hands 

Cybercrime continues to be on a steady incline.  No matter what type of industry or organization you work in, it knows no boundaries.  In this paper, however, we take a closer look at the  government sector.  The organizations and agencies within this sector hold a vast amount of personal information that if breached, can be catastrophic to the individual and those involved in their supply chains. 

New compliance regulations play a significant role 

The past few years many new compliance regulations from the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) have been mandated to ensure protocols are in place that penalize businesses for not protecting customer data. With the enormous number of breaches across the world today, it is imperative that companies are held accountable for the inordinate amounts of data we, the people, entrust to them as part of doing business.

The government sector has always been one step ahead on compliance with the longstanding Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS 140-2). This is a U.S. government computer security standards program, compliance with which is required of military installations, government agencies, and any organizations that want their products used in these environments.

At NetLib Security, we understand compliance is critical to creating stronger, more comprehensive data security plans for every organization. As government regulations change, understanding the new legal and financial ramifications can be a cumbersome and expensive process. As organizations work toward staying current with the latest trends, compliance and data security cannot be overlooked.

Government agencies targeted

Government agencies are prioritizing this issue of risk to the data they store with colossal investments.

• In 2018, according to Statista, cyberattacks cost the US government almost $14 billion.
• Overall government IT expenses totaled $88 billion the following year, with expectations for 2021 reaching over $92 billion.
• Also in 2019, the US government made up 5.6% of breaches.
• In 2020, the average cost of a data breach was $3.86 million.
• When ransomware was the culprit, that average rose to $4.44 million, according to AtlasVPN.
• 58% of 2020 breaches involved personal information, states Varonis, and about that same percentage of respondents doesn’t know what to know in the event of a breach.

Since five recent breaches each exposed at least one billion records, these investments have become more important than ever.  Indeed, the Department of Defense (DoD) has made it part of their current strategy to secure DoD data and prepare to counter cyberattacks through integrated cyber plans.  

Cyber criminals are still getting through; all it takes is one major incident, like the SolarWinds breach, to set off alarms.  The hackers in that scenario used a supply chain attack as a way to circumvent “traditional defenses” and inflict as much damage as possible.  Security holes in Microsoft’s operations ultimately allowed for the infiltration of 18,000 government and private networks.  The number of ransomware attacks, meanwhile, doubled in 2020, providing an ever quick and effective strategy for hackers to exploit.  

Not only can such incidents lead to basic security issues for any number of affected people, it also poses great risk to critical infrastructure, and severe consequences await any sector upon which sensitive processes depend.

How can government agencies ensure that their valuable data doesn’t fall into the wrong hands, once the standard suite of perimeter protection is compromised?  When a single government employee clicking on a dangerous link in a phishing email can have disastrous effects, what is the best way to keep the data safe and secure, while also ensuring the organization meets the requirements of the FIPS 140-2 security standard?

Enter NetLib Security – we simplify security for you

For government and military agencies, or those firms that wish to have their solutions deployed in these agencies in which sensitive data is collected, stored, or shared, NetLib Security’s Encryptionizer solution will also help you meet these FIPS 140-2 requirements.  Encryptionizer’s cryptographic modules have undergone a rigorous testing process to achieve FIPS 140-2 compliance, and can help others come into compliance with these standards as well.  

Using Encryptionizer provides effective, out-of-the-box data protection, encrypting critical data through a simple point-and-click interface.  Once installed and configured, Encryptionizer transparently encrypts vulnerable data stored on desktops and server databases, without the need for any additional programming or system performance sacrifice.

Whether your agency utilizes MySQL, PostgreSQL, or any Windows database, the data inside can be an inviting target, making it paramount to keep hackers at bay, and prevent them from undermining critical operations.  

Request a free evaluation here to test its functionality and integration with your operation, and protect your legacy systems, distributed applications, and other machines.