[BreachExchange] Cyber Security – The Digital Front

[Audrey McNeil]

http://www.militaryspot.com/community/cyber-security-digital-front

The internet is a vast and interconnected world. Cables and computers cross
physical boundaries to share information at an increasingly hectic pace. We
do business, connect, and share online. The governments of the world rely
upon it, and militaries are no exception. Unfortunately, the internet also
functions as a secret passageway into even the most secure facilities in
the world. Cyber attacks are a serious threat to American citizens, federal
and state governments, and infrastructure services. Cyber Security has
never been more important.

According to a White House audit, the U.S. Government alone received more
than 77,000 cyber attacks in the 2015 fiscal year. This is frightening to
imagine because we don’t often hear about these cyber attacks in the news
like we do when a corporation is hacked. When a corporation is hacked, it’s
regular people who often pay the price. When service members or government
organizations are targeted, classified and unclassified information can be
leaked – constituting a security breach.

The average American citizen spends more than ten hours per day consuming
digital media. More people using the internet means more opportunities for
cyber criminals to strike. Seemingly everyone uses the internet in some way
– social media, banking online, or even shopping on their phone. Those
digital footprints can leave accounts and systems vulnerable to attack. The
same holds true for service members, and they must carefully manage their
digital footprints.

Millions of U.S. citizens had their information exposed in major data
breaches during 2016. Some of the organizations affected include Yahoo,
Anthem, Myspace, and the Office of Child Support Enforcement. Many
organizations are building up their digital security efforts as a result.
Losing sensitive information of this nature is bad for business, and
unacceptable for government entities. The U.S. military employs
cybersecurity specialists and countermeasures to protect their assets and
secured systems.

Many businesses have access to personally identifiable information like
names, addresses, phone numbers, credit card info, and sometimes even
social security numbers. The theft of this kind of information can be
devastating for consumers. Imagine how devastating it could be for national
security if sensitive information from the government or military were to
become somehow compromised. This is why classified information is so
carefully safeguarded and often accessed only via the intranet, typically a
service or military specific network that is separated from the traditional
internet.

Nearly everything is connected to the internet in some capacity, including
the infrastructure of the United States. Communications services, power
grids, and many other public systems have gone digital. Certain types of
cyber attacks, like those upon the infrastructure, become a matter of
homeland security. One challenge that investigators and cyber security
experts face is locating and collecting evidence left behind on the
internet or in affected systems.

Just like traditional forensics would help solve a crime, digital forensics
steps in to gather evidence of these breaches and crimes committed. Digital
forensics is the practice that allows investigators to locate and protect
evidence of wrongdoing. In domestic matters, it’s not uncommon for the FBI
cybersecurity specialists to step in when hacker groups target government
and state entities and services.

For regular people who don’t have legions of cyber specialists to protect
their information, staying secure can be challenging. The truth is that
there are steps you can take to protect your tech and reduce the likelihood
of suffering from a malicious cyber attack. Some types of threats are
targeted toward a specific individual or entity, but others are more
general. It’s not uncommon for individuals to receive an email containing
viruses or malware. If the virus were unleashed on your home computer, the
damage is fairly localized and might only affect your household. Say that
email had been opened instead while at work, it could affect clients as
well.

Keeping your work accounts and home accounts separate is important. In
fact, many companies specifically prohibit their employees from accessing
personal emails or social media from work computers at least partially to
prevent this type of incident. The U.S. military often disallows the use of
mobile devices in secured locations in part because mobile devices have
their own vulnerabilities.

The best deterrent for cyber crime is the safe practice of data handling
standards, including the disposal and storage of that information. It is
important to follow procedures to operating those systems to ensure that no
loopholes or weaknesses can be exploited in the first place.
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