Cyber security refers to the process of shielding computers, networks, servers, mobile devices, electronic systems and data against data breaches. It is sometimes referred to as information technology security or electronic information security.
These cyberattacks often attempt to access, alter, or delete sensitive data, extort money from users, or disrupt regular corporate activities.
For obvious reasons, the United States, as a technological and political powerhouse, should have the highest cybersecurity requirements.
This article discusses how to do this in great detail. Continue reading for more information.
Because there are more gadgets than humans nowadays, and attackers are growing more inventive, putting in place effective cybersecurity measures is very difficult.
Multiple layers of protection are dispersed across the computers, networks, programs, and data that one wants to keep secure in a good cybersecurity strategy.
To develop a successful defense against cyber-attacks, an organization’s people, procedures, and technology must all complement one another.
A unified threat management solution may streamline core security operations processes including detection, investigation, and remediation by automating integrations across certain Security products.
Table of Contents
What Is the Importance of Cybersecurity?
Everyone benefits from modern cyber protection strategies in today’s linked society. A cybersecurity assault on an individual level may result in anything from identity theft to extortion attempts to the loss of crucial data such as family pictures.
Critical infrastructure, such as power plants, hospitals, and financial services organizations, is relied upon by everyone. It is critical to maintaining these and other institutions secure in order for our society to operate.
They expose new vulnerabilities, raise public awareness about the necessity of cybersecurity, and improve open-source technologies.
The protection of data employing cryptographic controls for Data at Rest and Data in Transit, an effective Access Control system and efficient monitoring and reporting of data access are the most critical factors for data security.
Individual cyber security threats may result in identity theft and extortion attempts, which can be devastating to a person’s life.
Entities and corporations, governments, the military, and other socially important organizations are all in the same boat. They keep massive volumes of information in data warehouses, computers, and other devices.
This material contains a lot of sensitive information. In many circumstances, exposing this information may be very destructive to citizens’ faith in institutions, company competitiveness, personal reputations, and customer trust in businesses.
Cybersecurity: Present State in the US
Modern dangers are more prevalent and wreak more harm, quicker, thanks to increasingly intelligent adversaries.
With the new Cybersecurity Insiders 2021 AWS Cloud Security Report, sponsored by CloudPassage, a Fidelis Cybersecurity company, learn how AWS user organizations are responding to new security threats in virtual storage.
This study is based on a survey of more than 300 cybersecurity experts who are actively trying to safeguard their cloud systems.
According to a poll conducted in 2021, enterprises’ responses to cloud security concerns and threats have changed significantly over the previous year.
- 95% of cybersecurity experts say they are highly to somewhat worried about the security of public clouds.
- The cloud platform’s misconfiguration is still the number one worry (71 percent ). Exfiltration of sensitive data was the second most common kind of data exfiltration (59 percent ). The top three worries were filled out by insecure APIs (54 percent).
- 58 percent rely on monthly vulnerability and compliance reports to inform system owners about security and compliance concerns that need to be addressed.
- 5 billion Internet users in the world have a reliable VPN for avoiding identity theft, 29% for personal use and 24% for business use
- The use of systems like Jira, ServiceNow, and others to automatically open tickets (47 percent) is next.
- Because of commitments to legacy applications in conventional data centers, more than 40% of enterprises are using the hybrid cloud (44%) and multi-cloud deployments (43%) for planned redundancy. Single cloud installations (11%) are becoming less and less important.
- Ninety percent of businesses utilize several cloud providers.
- When choosing a cloud security provider, 66 percent of enterprises prioritize cost-effectiveness, followed by scalability (52 percent), simplicity of deployment (51 percent), and technologies that can be implemented with automation (48 percent).
Cybersecurity is made a high priority in the Biden-Harris Administration at all levels of government since it is a crucial component of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) mandate.
This rallying cry centered on addressing the immediate danger of ransomware as well as the development of a more robust and diverse workforce.
In a virtual speech sponsored by the RSA Conference in conjunction with Hampton University and the Girl Scouts of the USA in March 2021, Secretary Mayorkas discussed his wider vision and a plan for the Department’s cybersecurity activities.
Improving Cybersecurity in the United States of America
Cyberspace and its underpinning infrastructure are exposed to a variety of dangers and hazards, both physical and cyber.
Cyber actors and nation-states are developing capabilities to interrupt, damage, or threaten the supply of important services, as well as exploit weaknesses to steal information and money.
Because of the capacity of hostile actors to operate from anywhere in the globe, the links between cyberspace and physical systems, and the complexity of decreasing vulnerabilities and repercussions in complex cyber networks, cyberspace is extremely difficult to defend.
The Department of Homeland Security established the first Cyber-Safety Review Board in the nation, a private-public partnership aimed at enhancing cybersecurity.
Senior specialists from the DHS, CISA, the NSA, the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, and other agencies will serve on the board, which is made up of cybersecurity professionals from both the federal government and the private sector.
Representatives from Google, Microsoft, Verizon, and cybersecurity companies CrowdStrike, Palo Alto, and Luta Security will sit on the board of directors.
Creating a uniform federal platform to communicate security information and best practices is one way the board can help move things ahead.
The CSRB is only one of many recent actions taken by the government to improve the country’s cybersecurity stance.
President Joe Biden issued an executive order in May to reduce obstacles to exchanging threat intelligence, update the government’s cyber defenses, and strengthen the security of the software supply chain.
The Joint Cyber Security Collaborative, started in August by CISA, is an attempt to coordinate cyber defense measures across numerous departments, state and municipal governments, and private firms.
Last month, the US government’s Office of Management and Budget unveiled a proposal to migrate to a zero-trust architecture.
If we talk about a superpower country like America, then it is far ahead of other countries in every field. But according to a recent report, has been found that countries like America are also struggling with issues like cybersecurity.
Yes, and that’s because we live in a time where there is no such thing as a “safe” password; Even no matter how difficult a password you make it can be cracked.
The hardest secret code is still a “shared secret” that both the application & the user need to recognize & save on the server for verification.
This makes them intrinsically susceptible to a number of attack techniques, such as DDoS phishing, & malware.
The growing use of phishing by cybercriminals to reveal the details of their passwords to users most dangerous by the day – 2016 was considered the most horrible year in history for phishing attacks, according to a recent report, with 65 percent of attacks reported to increase. Compared to the number of attacks recorded in 2015.
Cyber security is now at the forefront of policy matters and planning for future threats. However, in many ways, the cyber threat has completely changed the playing field, and it presents unique concerns for the United States and its allies.
A recent report has found that the cyber capabilities of other countries far exceed the US ability to defend the system, taking this into account, a cyber strategy should be designed that can reliably deter potential enemies,
Federal agencies and other companies need to take immediate action to implement a comprehensive cyber security system, secure federal systems, conduct efficient oversight, and protect cyber critical infrastructure, privacy, and sensitive data.
- Cybersecurity for remote workers
Firms adopted a work-from-home mindset as a response to the COVID-19 outbreak, and many businesses adjusted their corporate structures as a result.
In many circumstances, remote working can provide convenience, flexibility to the employees and cost benefits to businesses.
Many businesses enhanced their cybersecurity by securing important data, and networks using a variety of security measures, ranging from hiring qualified cybersecurity professionals to implementing strict network security protocols.
Throughout the rest of 2022, businesses will continue to create technologies and solutions that will reduce risks and improve remote working infrastructure.
- Implementation of AI ethically
Hackers nowadays are targeting more government websites/networks/databases than private businesses.
In fact, government organizations’ network infrastructure requires enhanced security since it holds data information and secrets that might jeopardize national security. Cybercriminals are adopting new technologies and methods to steal data.
Artificial Intelligence will greatly reduce the security loopholes as it will red flag the issues in advance so that security patches/firewall rules can be put in place immediately without any delay in the implementation.
- Smart budgeting in securing network infrastructure
Businesses will allocate more budgets for securing network infrastructure in 2022 than in previous years.
R&D spending on cybersecurity will increase so that new patented technologies and products will focus on identifying vulnerability management and network security.
Cybersecurity professionals must ensure that business operations from the networks are running smoothly without compromising security and enhancing the organization’s security architecture by deploying qualified human resources with adequate funding.
Why is the need for better Cybersecurity arise in the United States?
As everyone knows how the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the use and dependence on the Internet, this has happened because a guideline was issued by all the governments, in all working professionals should work by staying at home.
And all the students have to study online, due to which the risk of cyber-attacks has increased significantly.
Governments of all countries can address cyber security in a post-pandemic globe if they work together to adjust national frameworks, increase international cooperation, & unify awareness campaigns.
The best place to start is by addressing imperfect information-sharing arrangements.
It is no secret that China and Russia, along with other countries such as North Korea and Iran, have tried to greatly undermine Western democracies by using free markets against American society and their people.
All of them are trying to find hidden flaws in the American software and hardware chain so that they can steal America’s intelligence and misuse it.
7 Things the United States needs to Do in order To Strengthen its Cybersecurity
Training employees
America needs to test its security controls to make sure it is extremely difficult for a cyber attacker to compromise those controls.
People inside the government should also be aware of what phishing attacks are and trained about these kinds of threats so that they don’t fall victim to cyber-attacks and can take steps to prevent these attacks.
Testing Security
Often, hackers send a link, and if someone clicks on that link, the hacker can use the individual’s data. So the government should hire someone who can do security testing.
America should employ someone who can try to break into their system and find vulnerable points. It will help America to improve its cybersecurity.
Pretext phone calls
Many companies are not aware of pretext phone calls. Sometimes hackers call employees of the company and try to trick the employees into taking some information from them like what kind of software they are using, etc.
So employees should keep in mind that they can’t share a single piece of information related to the company, which will help the company protect its data from cyber attackers.
Internet-facing websites
Attackers look at internet-facing websites many times. Companies have websites, and customers and partners can easily log in. Web applications are built with thousands of code lines, making them vulnerable to hacking.
Hackers try to find these flaws and try gain access to the company through these flaws. So a company needs to maintain a certain standard to mitigate the risk of cyberattacks.
Investing in Defense Mechanisms
Prioritize and invest in defense mechanisms of network systems & flexibility for counterstrikes on the source systems from where the hacking attempts and destroy them.
Focusing On Developing Critical Infrastructure
Second, focus on critical infrastructure and maintain a border so that hacker groups & lesser powers (such as North Korea and Iran) cannot put the country at risk through cyber attacks.
A Comprehensive Cybersecurity Plan
Third, create a noteworthy cybersecurity plan to manage and handle the reply to a critical cyber-attack.
