Governments Employ New Tactics to Fight Cyber Security Threats Posted  July 30, 2010 By Sarah Fender

Governments face a tremendous challenge in addressing cyber security threats. The scope of the problem is enormous, and extends beyond even the broadest definition of cyber warfare to include:

• Fighting Cyber Crime – In addition to setting policy and regulatory mandates (FFIEC, HIPAA, HITECH) to ensure appropriate measures are taken to protect its citizens, the US government itself processes and stores a vast amount of personal information, everything from healthcare records to tax returns. A single breach could result in large scale identity theft and fraud.
• Protecting Our National Infrastructure – A disruption to the US financial, energy, transportation, or healthcare systems could result in significant damage, affecting the everyday life of citizens.
• Preventing Espionage – Both the recent theft and posting of thousands of Afghan War military documents on WikiLeaks.org and The Washington Post’s series “Top Secret America” pointing out the breadth and complexity of the US intelligence operations, illustrate how vulnerable the government is to espionage from internal and external sources.

While cyber warfare has moved to the forefront of the discussion recently, all three are absolutely vital to US national and personal security.

As government agencies scramble to lock down the growing volume of data they are entrusted with while also supporting information sharing among their own staff and across agencies, they are increasingly looking to technologies like PhoneFactor to get the job done. PhoneFactor announced this week the addition of the US Department of State, the District of Columbia government, and the Federal Railroad Administration to its client roster. These organizations join a growing list of federal, state, and local government agencies adopting PhoneFactor to meet their rigorous security requirements while also supporting their need for scalability and affordability. (PhoneFactor Announcement)

- Sarah