Nichols Martin
Jason Greenwood, vice president of security solutions at cyber software company Code42, said the U.S government needs to bolster its cybersecurity against increased insider risks that come with continuous workplace modernization.
The implementation of remote working and the availability of other modern work setups have made openings that increase data exfiltration risks, he wrote in a piece published Thursday on Nextgov.
The risk is also present with external contractors that can access federal data in the duration of a service agreement. Greenwood noted that after these agreements end, data oversight becomes more complex.
“When a contractor leaves or decides to take product plans, customer information or personnel records, who is in charge of protecting data, eliminating access or mitigating risks of exposure? In most cases, the exposure isn’t identified until it’s too late,” he said.
Greenwood underscored that while nation-state cyber defense should be a top federal priority, agencies should also be aware of “sleeper” risks including those rooted in insiders.
Ongoing efforts to modernize and distribute workplaces should prompt the federal government to bolster both external and internal data security, he noted.
