The Biden Administration’s 35-page National Cybersecurity Strategy released in March 2023 emphasizes the growing importance of cybersecurity for both private companies and federal agencies. The strategy specifically highlights ransomware as a significant concern, particularly in terms of its impact on private companies that collaborate with the federal government or are critical to national security.
The Challenge of Ransomware Protection
Every organization, from a small private company to a large federal agency, faces challenges in defending against ransomware attacks. The primary reasons for this struggle include:
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Hybrid Workforce: Having employees working both in the office and remotely creates new attack vectors, even when using VPNs, which makes cybersecurity more complex.
- BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) Policies: Allowing employees to use their personal devices introduces countless new opportunities for threat actors to infiltrate cybersecurity networks.
- Erosion of Traditional IT Perimeter: The once-reliable IT perimeter has disintegrated due to the rise of remote work and multi-cloud computing.
High-Profile Examples: Colonial Pipeline and T-Mobile
T-Mobile, the United States’ leading telecommunications company, suffered a data breach that lasted from November 2021, to January 2022. During this time, threat actors accessed the personal data of approximately 37 million customers. This breach followed the company’s $500 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit resulting from an August 2021 cyber attack, which was the largest carrier breach on record.
Colonial Pipeline, one of the largest oil pipelines in the United States, experienced a ransomware attack in May 2021. The attack infected some of the pipeline’s digital systems, leading to a shutdown that lasted several days. The attack had a significant impact on consumers along the East coast and was considered a national security risk, prompting President Joe Biden to declare a State of Emergency. The Colonial Pipeline attack is the largest publicly disclosed cyber attack against infrastructure in the United States.
Organizations that work with the federal government or have a critical role in national operations must adapt their defenses against these increasingly sophisticated attacks.
A robust Privileged Access Management (PAM) solution could have mitigated the risk of attacks like the ones that targeted T-Mobile and Colonial both the T-Mobile and Colonial Pipeline incidents by implementing stringent authentication and authorization protocols. This would have limited unauthorized access to sensitive systems and data, thereby mitigating the risk of data breaches and ransomware attacks.
Privileged Access Management for Federal Contractors
Civilian organizations that provide critical services or interact with the federal government need a way to seamlessly improve the security, visibility, and control of privileged credentials. To do so, these organizations need to look beyond traditional solutions that are often bulky, complex, and cost prohibitive. Since these critical civilian organizations are frequent targets for cybercriminals and nation-state actors, many of them have deployed PAM solutions. However, these traditional solutions were not designed for hybrid cloud environments or the stresses that remote work places on an organization’s security surface.
In fact, many traditional solutions are so complex and difficult to deploy that in a recent survey 87% of IT leaders said they’d prefer a “pared down” version of PAM that is easier to deploy.
The traditional IT perimeter has vanished. Remote operations are more common and multi-cloud computing will only further proliferate. As a result, organizations need to protect an exponentially larger attack surface that includes both humans and machines. Traditional PAM solutions are not up to the task.
Government agencies and critical organizations within the private sector need a next-generation solution that protects every user, on every device (including BYOD), while also being easy to deploy and use.
Safeguarding Your Organization with Keeper Security Government Cloud
Keeper Security Government Cloud (KSGC) provides comprehensive protection against ransomware attacks for every user, device and location:
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FedRAMP-Authorized PAM solution: Compromised credentials are often the linchpin of ransomware attacks. Establishing a security perimeter with a FedRAMP Authorized Privileged Account and Session Management (PASM) solution significantly bolsters defenses.
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Secrets management: Utilizing AES 256-bit encryption, Keeper keeps your sensitive information secure even in the event of a ransomware attack.
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Single Sign-On (SSO) integration: KSGC integrates seamlessly and securely with any SSO on the market, including AWS, Azure and Okta.
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Credential vaulting and access control: By encrypting credentials in the vault, users are protected from phishing, as login credentials auto-inject into approved sites without any end-user involvement.
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Keeper Connection Manager: The Colonial Pipeline failure resulted from an exposed VPN account password. Keeper significantly enhances security by allowing organizations to adopt zero-trust remote access to IT infrastructure without the need for client or agent software. Features like Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) provide additional layers of protection.
Given the constantly evolving cyber threat landscape, federal agencies and organizations with critical roles in national operations must prioritize robust cybersecurity measures. Keeper Security Government Cloud offers a comprehensive, FedRAMP Authorized solution that addresses key challenges, such as hybrid workforces, BYOD policies and the erosion of traditional IT perimeters. Implementing KSGC enables organizations to strengthen their defenses against ransomware attacks and better protect sensitive information, ensuring the security and integrity of their operations.