cyber trends
Managing the
cybersecurity challenge
The results of the FOI suggest public
sector organisations are aware of the
cybersecurity challenges they face and
the rapid rate of evolution. However,
it’s also evident that the rate at which
public sector organisations are facing
cyberattacks is on the rise and simply
setting out a security standard may not
be enough to stop it.
While it’s clear based on the
establishment of the Minimum Cyber
Security Standard that the regulatory
bodies are taking the matter seriously, it’s
now a case of this way of thinking trickling
down to each individual organisation or
agency and implementing the tools to
meet it. To form a successful strategy for
this, there are three key areas to consider.
1. Knowing who
A key part of cybersecurity is knowing
who has access to systems and data.
Through the right access management
system, public sector organisations can
improve security posture and mitigate
any insider threats by identifying
insecure accounts. Automating
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access rights management, analysis
and enforcement also enables quick
demonstration of compliance, easy
permissions management and ultimately
enhanced productivity of the IT team.
2. Knowing what
Visibility into what’s happening within
an IT environment is also key to
strengthening security posture, so
implementing security information and
event management (SIEM) is another
crucial piece of the puzzle. SIEM tools
Building a roadmap
for future testing, re-
evaluation of tools
and security posture
and the ability to
think ahead to
potential new threats
will be key.
enable IT teams to collect and
normalise logs generated across
networks and systems to
detect and protect against
advanced cyberthreats,
respond to cyber-
incidents with unique
user-defined actions and
help demonstrate regulatory
and industry compliance.
3. Looking forward
Every public sector entity is unique
and the velocity, variety and volume
of cyberattacks they experience will
provide new, evolving challenges. IT
teams need to be ready and agile in
adopting new techniques and learning
from past experiences to ensure their
organisations are constantly protected.
Building a roadmap for future testing,
re-evaluation of tools and security
posture and the ability to think ahead
to potential new threats will be key. A
critical part of this will be understanding
how to get visibility of the entire
infrastructure and getting everyone who
has access to use IT monitoring tools to
provide the right information to put the
right protections in place. u
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