Government and National Security - Essay Example

In 2016, the government faced a number of cyber threats, and up to date, they are debating about the possible solutions. The major threat that the government is debating about is the increase in cyber attacks from both old and new enemies. Digital battlefield is now increasing, and it has become a major security concern in the year 2017. Russia has been alleged for hacking into different political institutions in order to influence the presidential election, but Trump has denied the allegations. Iran and China continue to invest a lot to develop their cyber capabilities which are aimed at the U.S. In response, the U.S government is spending billions to strength its cyber capabilities and is fostering a partnership with various private entities to counter both non-state and state actors. The government is funding the system to come up with two major solutions to avoid future attacks.

First, it aims at ensuring continuous monitoring and advanced authentication of users. Agencies have to improve how they manage users by monitoring and upholding security systems to avert future cyber attacks. This will enable them to individuals who are accessing crucial information from the agencies as well as ensuring that cyber threats can detect before the hackers get the data they are looking for from the government. The government has to ensure the fund is invested in purchasing tools such as defender that will enable advanced authentication and continuous monitoring of information to make sure it does not land in the hands of a wrong person. These tools will assist by offering global reach and built-in scalability to enable agencies to thwart huge attacks and protect their web application from direct-to-origin attacks. A site defender assists in maintaining a website performance and accessibility even in the case of fast-changing threats.

Second, the government is improving workers education and hiring more qualified folks who are in a position to deal with various forms of cyber security threats. Agencies can only address the cyber skills gap by accelerating learning and skills development. The government is providing career development opportunities in the field of cyber security to ensure only qualified personnel are dealing with matters of security. Employing incompetent individuals will give cyber terrorists a loop-hole to penetrate into the government system and retrieve all relevant information that they wish to get. Building enough cyber work forces in government will take a significant amount of time, resources, and energy. The government is developing a system that will make the work of IT teams and agency staff easier to enhance efficiency and avoid wastage of resources. Seasoned web security specialist in a security team can assist to detect and mitigate cyber attacks due to their level of skills. They can also be used as web security consultants who make sure that web network and application systems are updated regularly and protected against emerging threats.

The federal government is responsible for matters to do with diplomatic, intelligence policy, and military. The state government sponsors departments that identify and combats terrorist entities. All levels of government should ensure information is being disseminated in a real time and actionable basis. The government should continue to recruits and train more cyber experts for the long-term. But currently, they should continue to recruit, build, and educate cyber security personnel to provide the services required with the aim of curbing this problem entirely in the long-run.

References

Herb, J. (2017). How Congress is taking back power from Trump on national security. CNN. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2017/07/01/politics/congress-trump-war-power/index.html

Ruff, T. (2017). Three solutions for the federal cyber security challenge [Commentary]. Fifth Domain | Cyber. Retrieved from http://fifthdomain.com/2017/03/24/3-solutions-for-the-federal-cybersecurity-challenge-commentary/