Cybersecurity is comparable more to an arms race than traditional security, due to the way that hackers and IT professionals must continually test their methods of attacking and defending against the latest strategies used by their opponents. Virtual machines and partitioned sandbox servers let those working on defense hire white hat hackers to crack their networks on purpose in order to expose weaknesses. Faked servers are used by hackers in the same way to test ways of getting information without being detected. In order to stay ahead of attackers, those who are focused on defense need to continue to push ahead.
This issue is why it is so important that the new federal cybersecurity campus is being funded. According to Federal Times, the new headquarters is worth $35 million, which will help to grow the local economy as well as serve as a base of operations for understanding how to further defend federal agencies from attackers. In the wake of so many recent high profile hacking cases, there doesn’t seem to be a need to justify this expense – the amount of dangerous criminals out there is truly breathtaking, and it is likely that there will continue to be a barrage of threats to defend from in the future.
A rogue’s gallery
The recent Sony attack was carried out by a group calling themselves the “Guardians of Peace,” who claimed responsibility for the cyber attackk, according to ZDnet. Thousands of Sony’s internal memos and emails have been leaked, letting much of the corporate information about various acquisitions and options being pursued by the company out for everyone to read. There haven’t been many attacks so targeted at causing damage to a high-profile company, and it is possible that there will be copycat attacks in the near future. Pursuing security options, like the cloud for federal agencies, may be a wise choice of action for groups afraid that they might be next.
Taking advantage of the skills and time available to workers in order to prepare for potential attacks ahead is a good idea. Due to the sheer amount of damage that can be caused by these hacks, one that hits a federal agency might be brutal. Making use of the best cyber security tools available is the only way to be safe. Understanding how to defend an agency from aggression online is rapidly becoming as important as having a good fire escape plan.