Evert business has cybersecurity threats and attacks to be wary of. Employees in the federal space have extra considerations to keep in mind, especially those that work in highly-regulated industries. Jeff Engle, UDT’s Vice President & General Manager for Federal, was featured discussing best practices for federal institutions on a recent episode of the TechNative podcast.
Here are some of the key takeaways:
- Modernization and cybersecurity are top concerns
Federal employees face different issues, as they are not reliant on traditional or measurable outcomes as typical businesses. While federal organizations want to modernize, they need to be cognizant of rules, regulations, and other restrictions that typical businesses do not need to account for. Modernization is a huge priority for the federal workforce, but employees need to acclimate themselves to cyber risks that are specific to their agency.
- Mobility and IoT risks
Working from home, or remotely from a coffee shop, may be great for the employee – but it does open the attack surface for cybersecurity risks. The number of ways (and places) that federal employees can connect and work while away from the office has grown, and now agencies are tasked with figuring out how to keep their data and systems secure as the workforce becomes increasingly mobile. As seen with the recent leak of secret U.S. Army base locations from a fitness app, the mobility issues aren’t limited to laptops, but also include phones and wearable technology.
- Knowing the risks
As IT ecosystems become more highly connected, it is important to keep the following in mind: look at the risk profiles, starting with what’s critical, and how would they be attacked. Following that, identify what vulnerabilities could be exploited, both internally and externally. Keeping abreast of emerging technologies, such as machine learning and geofencing is also crucial, as it could be used to redact sensitive information from a document or opening a file in a location that’s less than secure.
What is most important for any federal agency to know is what the risks are, how they work, and how they can leverage these new high-end emerging technologies. You can learn more about the Federal team by clicking the button below.