Cyberattacks Increasingly Seen as One of the Biggest Threats Facing America

Whether you’re talking to civilians or government officials, it’s apparent that cyberattacks are considered among the top concerns facing America — ranking just behind ISIS as the top greatest perceived global threat.

According to a poll of Americans by Pew Research, cyberattacks came in second behind ISIS as the single most threat facing the nation.

The actual statistics bear that out. Surveys of the nation’s top 24 federal agencies revealed that cyberattacks against the government climbed by a rate of 1,300 percent — from 5,500 annually in 2006 to 77,000 in 2015.

Eighteen of those agencies were considered as having “high-impact systems” that could cause “catastrophic harm” if the information they possessed was taken over. “During fiscal year 2014, 11 of the 18 agencies reported 2,267 incidents affecting their high-impact systems, with almost 500 of the incidents involving the installation of malicious code,” the report revealed.

How to prevent cyberattacks

When developing strategies to minimize your risk for cyberattacks, it’s important to take the following measures, as advised by Business2Community:

Keep your computers updated. Your systems are especially vulnerable if you have not kept up with updates to your operating systems, web browsers, firewalls, and antivirus software.

Implement a strong password policy. Not only do you need to create strong passwords, you need to make sure your team members are changing them frequently. This boosts the likelihood that your systems will stay secure. Ensure that all team members are abiding by these policies.

Hire a security consultant. More than likely, you’re not ahead of the game when it comes to security measures that will keep you protected. Hire those who are specially trained in this area to make recommendations on how to protect your business. Breaches are becoming common. It is likely less expensive to take precautions beforehand than to suffer losses later.

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Alex Carroll

Managing Member at Lifeline Data Centers

Alex, co-owner, is responsible for all real estate, construction and mission critical facilities: hardened buildings, power systems, cooling systems, fire suppression, and environmentals. Alex also manages relationships with the telecommunications providers and has an extensive background in IT infrastructure support, database administration and software design and development. Alex architected Lifeline’s proprietary GRCA system and is hands-on every day in the data center.