{"id":6842,"date":"2014-09-29T05:00:14","date_gmt":"2014-09-29T12:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/?p=6842"},"modified":"2014-09-26T13:42:18","modified_gmt":"2014-09-26T20:42:18","slug":"summer-2014-highlights-need-better-intrusion-prevention-platform-approach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/summer-2014-highlights-need-better-intrusion-prevention-platform-approach\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer of 2014 Highlights Need for Better Intrusion Prevention and Platform Approach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today we\u2019re pleased to feature a guest perspective by Rick Antonucci<\/strong>, Market Intelligence Analyst from immixGroup<\/a>, a key Palo Alto Networks partner in the government market.<\/em><\/p>\n

immixGroup helps technology companies do business with the government.\u00a0immixGroup\u2019s unique platform of services enables software and hardware manufacturers and their channel partners to grow their public sector business and accelerate the sales cycle. Government agencies trust immixGroup to provide leading IT products through their preferred contracts and business partners. You can read previous posts by immixGroup here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"immixGroup_3D_4c-EPS-version-500x100\"<\/span><\/div><\/p>\n

By: Rick Antonucci<\/strong><\/p>\n

This spring the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on the rise of data breaches. Among several statistics, the report highlighted incidents involving personal identifiable information, which almost tripled from 2009 to 2013. Unfortunately, 2014 looks to continue this upward trend. \u00a0Two high profile incidents occurred over the summer at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) \u2013 both of which reaffirm federal agencies\u2019 need for robust security solutions.\u00a0 These breaches served to remind us of the sheer amount of sensitive data within federal networks and repositories, and that the cybersecurity posture of these networks and repositories needs to be improved.<\/p>\n

It was reported in July that OPM experienced a breach of its computer networks in March.\u00a0 The hackers (believed to be on the payroll of the Chinese government) were able to breach OPM computer networks that contain personnel information on up to 5 million government employees and contractors. Fortunately a computer security team from DHS detected the breach through an automated monitoring system and prevented any information from being compromised. While those affected by the breach appear to have dodged a bullet, this incident has received a lot of attention because it highlighted the need for better prevention solutions from the ever-present external threats seeking sensitive data.<\/p>\n

In early August, DHS experienced a breach of its own. USIS, a contractor performing background checks for DHS, was hacked by what they allege to be a state-sponsored attack \u2013 which may have compromised 20,000 personnel records. Though the data was encrypted by DHS prior to sending to USIS, whether the information remained encrypted after it was received by the contractor is uncertain. This leak is not just another reminder of the vulnerabilities and threats that exist, but that the area of concern extends beyond the agencies themselves and into third party firms handling sensitive data.<\/p>\n

The OPM breach demonstrated what an effective government response should look like.\u00a0 It highlighted the need for better firewalls and intrusion prevention\/endpoint protection measures in order to prevent another breach.\u00a0 But on the other hand, the DHS contractor breach demonstrates the need for ensuring consistent standardization both within the federal government and within industry partners.\u00a0 \u00a0One way agencies can achieve this is through investing in prevention solutions (thus reducing remediation costs in the future). While these incidents are unfortunate, they are inevitable without appropriate controls and standardization \u2013 and they will be constant reminders of the importance to federal agencies of maintaining an effective cybersecurity posture.<\/p>\n

Rick\u2019s discussion demonstrates that Palo Alto Networks platform approach \u2013 arming our government customers with full visibility across network and endpoint and across applications, content and users - is the right approach.\u00a0 With the ability to segment their networks, government agencies reduce their risk \u2013 thwarting attackers\u2019 attempts to exfiltrate citizens\u2019 PII or sensitive government information. - Pamela<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today we\u2019re pleased to feature a guest perspective by Rick Antonucci, Market Intelligence Analyst from immixGroup, a key Palo Alto Networks partner in the government market. immixGroup helps technology companies do business …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[155,484,78,410],"tags":[765,766,524,764,762,763],"coauthors":[717],"class_list":["post-6842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cybersecurity-2","category-government","category-partners","category-vertical","tag-department-of-homeland-security","tag-hackers","tag-immixgroup","tag-office-of-personnel-management","tag-rick-antonucci","tag-u-s-government-accountability-office"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6842"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6844,"href":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6842\/revisions\/6844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6842"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/origin-researchcenter.paloaltonetworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=6842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}