Week 5 - Dissmal Cybersecurity Outlook Amidst Government Shutdown

Week 5

Hello readers. So, by now you know that our government is essentially at a stand still. National parks are being "destroyed", TSA agents are working without pay and quitting in some instances, and we remain divided as a nation. What really in trouble is the state of our cybersecurity.

DHS employees, who are responsible for civilian cybersecurity efforts such as threat analysis and information sharing, have been forloughed. This is a huge blow for the private industry who depend on DHS to keep abreast of threats and ensure a safe computing environment for their organizations. Further fallout of the shutdown is the reluctance of talented cybersecurity professionals to join the civil service ranks. Ranks that were already tough to fill prior to the shutdown.

The shutdown has the potential to not only affect the private sector but to also impact the government's security posture. Nearly 85 percent of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s staff members are furloughed during the shutdown. This number is critical given the central importance of NIST security and privacy standards for not just government agencies but also many private companies.

The impostance of NIST can't be understated. They run a Computer Security Resource Center, which is currently offline, but whose resources can still be accessed by the wiley security expert. Another reason why it's such a "big deal" that the NIST site is not being maintained is the fact that NIST covers everything from encryption to how user accounts should be authenticated, sensitive data storage requirements, network intrusion monitoring, and security incidents response. Currently, federal law mandates that only federal agencies are required to follow the security guidelines issued by NIST, but many other organizations also rely on them as reputable, comprehensive, and well-vetted recommendations for best practices in computer security (Wolff, 2019). Perhaps with a bit of temparance we can all get back to work and continue protecting our national cyber-assets.

Reference:

J. Wolff. (2019, Jan. 9). The Shutdown is Hurting Cybersecurity. Retrieved from slate.com at: https://slate.com/technology/2019/01/government-shutdown-cybersecurity-dhs-nist.html