Does Your MSP Firm Truly Protect Governments from Hackers?

Joe Young, CEO of GDS in Pembroke, MA has started to focus on the lack of IT security with Government organizations across New England.  Recently Joe and his team hosted an awesome webinar on this topic.  You have to watch it.

There’s no question about it: cybercrime is on the rise – from links in bogus phishing emails to malware-ridden websites to data-stealing ransomware, cybercrime is becoming more and more sophisticated and complex each and every day. A few months ago, in Wayland, MA, police investigated and discovered someone accessed the town’s bank accounts.

As you can imagine, the hackers stole a significant amount of money – withdrawing over 4 million dollars from the town’s bank account. Unfortunately, they weren’t prepared to handle the attack. That’s why it’s absolutely vital to ensure you’re truly protecting governments from hackers.

Are you taking the right steps to help government entities protect confidential information?

Government agencies tend to store tons of confidential information, and if they’re only using a simple anti-virus software and firewalls, they’re not protected against cybercrime. You need to go above and beyond – creating an effective security and risk management program wherein you consider:

What data should be considered confidential?

Personally identifiable information (PII) is confidential and needs the utmost protection. This includes names, social security numbers, banking information, and account information.

Where is confidential data stored?

Often, PII will be stored on the municipality management system, but other sources need to be considered: email, portable devices, and hard copy in filing cabinets are all required to be protected.

How can you safeguard massive amounts of confidential data?

Aside from using due diligence, you need to use a variety of methods to protect confidential data – going above and beyond the typical anti-virus software, firewalls, and web-content filtering, you need to:

• Reduce and manage vulnerabilities
• Establish an information security program
• Implement physical and technical safeguards

Remember, your government clients are facing numerous threats: internal and external, including intentional and unintentional access by unauthorized individuals, accidental disclosure, loss of portable devices, and much more.

Learn more about GDS at http://www.gdsconnect.com.

You absolutely must keep municipalities safe against internal and external threats through comprehensive security and risk management. If you’re not taking the right precautions, it’s time to start… before it’s too late.