Cybersecurity Threats for Public Sector You Must Know

Since digital technology has become more common, public sectors are increasingly relying on it. On the one hand, it offers advancement, convenience, and accuracy. On the other hand, this transformation has increased the risk of cyber threats for these organizations.

Unfortunately, public sectors, unlike private companies, seem to be unaware of the cybercrimes looming over them. This leaves the biggest loophole for threat actors. They find these institutions a goldmine of data that can easily be breached.

If you work in such an office, keep reading the article. It will shed light on several cybersecurity threats for public sectors that you must know about.

5 Cybersecurity Risks for Government Organizations

Government agencies and public sector organizations are facing a range of cybersecurity risks. These threats include hacktivism, state-sponsored attacks, watering hole attacks, ransomware, and business email compromise. Let’s elaborate on each of the above incidents one by one:

1.      Hacktivism

Hacktivism is one of the least known but major threats to public organizations. This word is a combination of “hack” and “activism,” referring to it socially or politically motivated sinister plans.

This is a well-organized form of civil disobedience where threat actors leverage technology to protest against the governments. Hackers usually launch different types of cyberattacks, such as:

• Denial of Service or DoS
• Data breaches
• Website defacement

To show their despise against various steps taken by the governments. Such an incident can result in a substantial loss for these sectors. Therefore, public sectors opt for managed security services to prevent hacktivism from happening.

2.      State-Sponsored Attacks

The most well-organized and dangerous type of cybercrime that a public sector can face is state-sponsored attacks. The realm of cyber threats is not limited to individual hackers or threat actors. Rather, today, various states exploit this dangerous weapon to damage each other’s integrity.

This kind of attack happens when a country or public sector launches an attack against another country. The level of complexity and sophistication of these incidents is higher because governments have all the required resources and skills.  Otherwise known as nation-state cyberattacks, these threats can often result in the following:

• Stealing military information and sensitive government data
• Influencing general elections, public opinions, and government policies
• Weakening the security or sovereignty of a government and its people
• Posing a danger to the financial landscape of a nation

Therefore, it is a must that all government agencies and organizations be aware of such attacks. For this reason, the implementation of MSS services is vital.

3.      Watering Hole Attacks

This is a relatively new but detrimental type of cyberattack executed against an agency or a group of people working in a particular workplace. The malicious actors launch such an attack by luring these individuals to an infected replica of a site that they commonly visit.

The term is inspired by a more natural type of attack that an animal carries on its prey by lurking behind a water hole. This is because the nature of such an attack is quite similar to this phenomenon. These incidents often bring about the following dangers for the public sector:

• Security or data breaches
• Unauthorized access to a public organization’s network
• Introducing malware to the IT infrastructure of these workplaces

In the past few years, there have been many reported cases of such cyberattacks that have resulted in considerable losses. Opting for MSS services can help you avoid watering hole attacks by employing various strategies.

Also Read : Say Goodbye to Data Chaos and Hello to Clarity with Collibra!

4.      Business Email Compromise

Business Email Compromise, or BEC, is one of the rapidly growing concerns for public and private sectors. This is more like a social engineering attack or scam, which leverages emails to defraud an organization.

Cybercriminals who execute this kind of cyberattack work by sending fake emails to individuals and getting them to do the desired actions. The impersonator can lure someone into complying with their statements that can demand operations like:

• Asking them to pay make-believe bills
• Demanding private data

The victim will follow their instructions, thinking that the recipient is an authorized person. As a result, the organization will have to face colossal financial or integrity losses.

5.      Ransomware

Last but not least, ransomware is the most common and threatening type of cyberattack. Various reports show that public sector agencies, organizations, and universities are hot spots for threat actors who launch this type of attack.

Ransomware is a kind of malicious software that is aimed to infect a computer or network. Due to the high volume of sensitive information and many individuals, the public sector is a favorite to launch ransomware attacks.

Such cyber incidents can result in financial losses, data breaches, system shutdowns, and other issues. You can refer to managed security services to avoid ransomware attacks from affecting your public sector organization.

Conclusion

The danger of cyberattacks is increasing, and public sectors are no exception. Several risk factors for these organizations are hacktivism, state-sponsored attacks, watering hole attacks, ransomware, and business email compromise. If you want to leverage MSS to protect your agency from the above threats, contact a reliable service provider.