Protecting data has become a mandatory and strategic prerequisite for all companies that intend to carry out transactions over the Internet. In this way, private and public institutions from the municipal to the federal sphere are included.
Security incidents involving government agencies are increasingly frequent. Many of us don’t know, but in a very silent underworld, a real cyberwar is being waged between countries. Based on this topic we will talk about the importance of protecting data.
The protection of your country is constantly at risk
Recently, a study by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised alarming data. Central banks around the world are under constant attacks that have resulted in the theft of millions of dollars. And that’s not all, after all, the data of thousands of customers and employees was compromised.
In recent years the financial sector and government have been the main targets of these attacks. After all, both have migrated their operations to the online world where the risk of intrusion and data theft is greater.
A strong adaptation is necessary on the part of these institutions in the face of a paradigm shift. In summary, the main operations of banks and strategic sectors of the government used to happen offline or in a restricted way in private networks. However, now they are on the internet, an open and risky world.
In recent years all these institutions have experienced a major disruption in their business models. In this way, protecting data has become a priority.
Intruders can be recreational hackers, crackers, or terrorists. Problems can appear before business entities and interests, as well as the public sector and government. For example, we can cite as possible targets banking institutions, energy, state agencies, hospitals, companies, education and even social affairs.
All of these institutions are heavily dependent on their online presence and are therefore at risk. With information flowing over the Internet on different networks across the world, there is a growing need to protect personal information, funds and assets, as well as national security.
Data care
It is clear that adopting a strategy to protect data is necessary. Citizens must have confidence in using public services online, and if they feel they are under threat in areas such as health and social care, their use will surely decline.
Given this growing threat, public and financial sector organizations must adhere to appropriate cybersecurity standards. In this way, they will be able to guarantee the necessary protection and security for the use of the online environment in their operations.
Data protection must be a priority
For the government, cybersecurity is not just a challenge, after all, it is a major obstacle in the face of the long-awaited digital transformation . Furthermore, the stakes are very high: the invasion of public sector information can jeopardize national security.
Let’s get a better idea of the consequences of cyberattacks and information theft from financial institutions and the government. For this we list 8 problems generated by the lack of data protection.
- Invading vital systems with the aim of deactivating them;
- wreak havoc on the entire digital infrastructure of the country;
- Gain access to systems to steal sensitive data;
- Stealing document numbers (HR, CPF, CNH, others) or tax returns;
- Making illegal financial transfers;
- Disrupt strategic government operations;
- Manipulating data and code to introduce harmful instructions;
- Obtain employee records and national security files.
The impact of suffering cyber attacks through financial institutions and government agencies goes far beyond the financial losses. The exposure of the information of each citizen, for example, is an irreversible damage and, due to its extension, it becomes impossible to measure the size of the loss.
Facing the cybersecurity challenge
Threats are growing in volume, intensity and sophistication and moreover recent attacks demonstrate that new intrusion attempts must occur frequently.
A big doubt arises. After all, how can governments reverse the growing gap between investment in safety and effectiveness? Traditionally, cybersecurity has focused on intrusion prevention, defense using firewalls, port monitoring and the like.
However, the evolving threat landscape calls for a more dynamic strategy to protect data. So a new approach in this regard involves three fundamental areas built around being safe, vigilant and resilient. These three principles reflect the fact that defense mechanisms must evolve.
Government actions cannot rely solely on perimeter security, they must also develop solid capabilities for detection, response, reconnaissance, recovery and data protection.
Reliability must be maintained
Cybersecurity is about building a secure environment with the use of technology in order to ensure the trust and stability of society .
Consequently, building reliability requires activities and operations that can ensure:
- Reduction and prevention of threats and vulnerabilities;
- Implementation of protection policies;
- Incident response;
- Fast recovery in case of incidents;
- Assurance of data and information;
- Enforcement of cybersecurity -related laws ;
- Intelligence operations related to cyberspace security;
- Among other actions.
- You need an incident response plan
Organizations need to have a really clear understanding of what to do in the event of a security incident. This requires having an incident response plan that is well planned and regularly tested.
However, it is worth noting that the threats and attacks that occur today do not follow normal detection and response patterns. Traditional requirements are only focused on common threats.
For financial and government institutions, the reality shows that we have threats that have been improved and that pose a great risk. And combating this scenario will require developing a solid framework to manage risk and apply new standards to detect and respond to much more advanced threats.
This goes far beyond simply testing systems for vulnerabilities. It means, for example, understanding what data is at greatest risk, what types of criminals would be most interested in this type of information, what types of attacks could be used, and finally developing preventive and corrective actions to protect the data.
How to position yourself in the current digital security scenario
Agencies must make significant efforts to study emerging threats, looking at key risk indicators and understanding the actors, criminals, foreign countries and hacktivists, that threaten government and financial systems.
Whether an internal or external threat, organizations are finding that using firewalls alone is not effective in anticipating the nature of threats.
The evolving action of cyber threats requires collaborative network defense, which means sharing information about vulnerabilities, forms of attack and solutions among the community, governments, companies and security providers.
Thus, cybersecurity, when efficiently developed in each country, encompasses practically all citizens, providing everyone with a sense of trust and credibility in institutions.