(Newswire.net — March 23, 2018) — Cyber attacks have been on the increase in recent years. As every sector gradually moves to an interconnected computing model, more vulnerabilities are discovered each day. Despite efforts to tackle this, hackers seem to be on the rise daily. This has led to efforts by the British government to protect its cyberspace, including for the essential service providers.
In January, the government urged critical industries to put more effort into protecting themselves from the growing threat of cyber attacks. Following the roll out of the 2016-2021 five year National Cyber Security Strategy, less successful attacks have been recorded, but there have still been quite a few successful ones.
As efforts are being made by the government, the attackers are also making efforts to undermine the efforts of the government and security agencies. One of the sectors that is in dire need of security improvement is the essential service providers. With the security strategy already in place, the government can do more in the protection of essential service providers in the following ways.
Clear Guidelines
Since it is the duty of the government to protect and regulate its cyberspace, guidelines must be clear and easy to understand by all concerned. This would ensure that each sector follows the guidelines and does not put itself in dangers of attack by violating the guidelines.
Also guidelines should be constantly updated as new security vulnerabilities are discovered. This would ensure the immediate blockage of every available backdoors as they are discovered, which in turn would make it difficult for attackers.
Outsource Tech Experts from Reputable Companies
Most essential service providers are owned and controlled by the government. In order to facilitate and keep its employee up to date, the government should ensure that outsourced experts are from a reputable company.
While outsourced experts can be in form of trainers, or specifically employed to complete a new security related task, there are possibilities that vital information may slip away. Such minor carelessness could lead to a massive damage as it would expose vulnerability to attackers
Ensure the Security of Network Devices
Storage devices have been one of the major targets for attackers all through history. Despite their locations and manufacturers, the government in its regulatory guidelines should make sure all network devices, including storage, transmitters, routers and any device connected to the network are up to date and secured.
Saving individual and corporate files in the cloud helps mobility; however using hybrid cloud managed devices could reduce the level of vulnerability and attacks. This is because hybrid cloud storage hosts combine the power of speed and protection all in one.
With the enhancement in cyber threat information sharing, it would serve as a double edged-sword. While the attacker may be targeting a particular hardware, automated information would have been transmitted to host, who would act immediately to block such leakages.
In the final analysis, the security of the essential service providers is not negotiable as a minor glitch could lead to a massive disaster and loss of lives. This is why the government must ensure that all essential service providers follow updated guidelines in protecting their networks.