The public sector gears up for a cyber-resilient ecosystem

Governments play a pivotal role in maintaining stability, regulation, and smooth functioning of any nation's social and political fabric as they can create and enforce rules and manage external affairs, the economy, and public services. As governance becomes digital and public and private sectors become connected with citizens, a strong cybersecurity posture becomes imperative. Therefore, the government needs stringent and effective cyber governance laws to ensure the nation's long-term development.

According to our experts, a nation or state can face various cybersecurity threats from other countries and cyber criminals. These include:

• Insider threats from those having institutional knowledge that can pose unprecedented physical security concerns.

• Cyberintimidation, threats, violence, harassment, or bullying of election officials, polling places, and voters.
• Disinformation and misinformation by foreign adversaries to sow discord among native or immigrant, or non-resident citizens.

The motive can vary from undermining the confidence of electoral integration to inciting violence among social communities, thus jeopardizing governance structure and administration.

In the case of the United States of America, significant concerns plaguing the country of late are from rogue elements from Russia, Iran, and China trying to influence elections. In October 2022, several airports came under DDoS attacks orchestrated by a pro-Russia group of hackers. As a result, some websites were severely impacted, causing flight delays and airline disruptions. The same month, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI, and the National Security Agency (NSA) announced that statesponsored hackers had access to a defense company site since January 2021. It was found that sensitive company data was compromised.

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The use of 5G technology is set to grow globally. It is expected to fuel the development of various new applications with superior capabilities and establish new business trends. The faster and better 5G is a complementary companion to Industry 4.0 technologies powering machine-to-machine communication, augmented decision support, and demand-driven supply chains.

Although government intervention is not required in every vertical or step, the successful adoption of 5G can only be possible with its collaboration and guidance. For instance, government agencies are pivotal in opening access and allocating network segmentation. This will be instrumental in deciding what part of the network comes strictly under military access and what portion can be left for civilian use. In remote or rural areas where commercial networks often provide poor services, such shared connections can significantly contribute to bridging the digital divide and helping communities to thrive. 5G is expected to disrupt institutions, agencies, and businesses, so strict governance becomes an unavoidable requirement.

With the public sector increasingly relying on Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning (ML), Augmented and Virtual Reality (AR/VR), etc., there is an immense need to set some ground rules to decide on what decisions can be delegated to machines and what can’t. For instance, the healthcare sector can be revolutionized by early detection of chronic illnesses through remote analysis of vital signs collected by smart wearables or nano-sensors within the body.

Our public sector security advisors have expressed their concern that though the above advancements could fastforward progress across many industrial sectors, they can also expand attack surfaces and sophisticated tactics. About one-third of governments across the world will pass regulations on ransomware payments, fines, and negotiations, according to a recent Gartner report. This will be augmented by enforcing stringent policies and actionable measures to prevent cybersecurity incidents.

A recent Centre for Strategic and International Studies report cited that Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) focus on two pillars for effective cyber governance. The first is to ensure cyberspace's defense and stability, and the second is to prioritize risk reduction and resilience.

According to our cybersecurity experts, here are a few steps that the public sector can adopt to improve cyber posture:

• Government authorities, institutions, and serving personnel should be active participants in devising strategies and implementing actionable measures that aim at risk reduction, building resilience, and preparing to tackle threats of any type. This includes cyber threats, technology incidents, artificial weather events, terrorist threats, and things that sow discord.
• Physical security is paramount when it comes to protecting administration-critical assets. Nationwide physical security assessments and personnel training can help a great deal to de-escalate risky situations.
• If attacks involve fake news, inciting content, disinformation, or misinformation, the public sector must understand and equip itself to recognize, investigate, prevent its amplification, and build resilience against it.

The US government recently created a platform called Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC), roping in federal counterparts such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), National Security Agency (NSA), United States Cyber Command (CYBERCOM), Defense, Justice, Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Secret Service and the National Cyber Directorate. This public sector platform works with the private sector to identify, analyze and neutralize imminent cyber threats that could harm the country's safety, economy, and progress.

ShieldsUp is yet another initiative by the US government, which houses 25+ biggest technology companies worldwide, including Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Communications Service Providers (CSPs), backbone infrastructure vendors, and cybersecurity vendors. Its goal is to tap the industry expertise to help the government thwart any potentially suspicious or malicious activities in the public sector.

Technology is playing an increasingly crucial role in our lives nowadays. Cybersecurity leaders at Cybalt understand that critical infrastructure is underpinned by technology, and shifting to a new era requires a complete rehaul of cybersecurity strategies and measures. Their skills and expertise can go a long way in helping the public sector ensure fool-proof protection for their enterprise systems.