Jay Clemens
DLT Solutions has highlighted what it sees as the top cybersecurity threats the U.S. government faced in 2014 and the countermeasures agencies have adopted to combat those threats.
Caron Beesley wrote in an analysis piece published Wednesday the lack of awareness and cyber training among federal employees hampers government efforts to counter sophisticated attacks.
Beesley, editor of DLT Solutions’ Acronym Online magazine, also says bring-your-own-device strategies present problems as cyber threats target mobile devices and operating systems.
She adds that the number of vulnerable devices continues to rise as the Internet of Things grows.
Federal and state officials are also concerned about data storage in the cloud, according to Beesley.
“Despite the lack of control and visibility that the public cloud affords, the deployment, configuration, and management of your cloud solution is essentially a balancing act between preserving consistency with your current security policies and dealing with acceptable risk,” she writes.
Beesley says the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program provides resources for agencies to plan and perform due diligence in identifying security and privacy challenges related to cloud computing.
“In addition, there are cloud service providers out there who have developed specialized cloud solutions that address the sensitive data requirements and security regulations of the federal government and its contractors,” she adds.
