The DoDIN APL Certification: A Labor of Love
As the Department of Defense (DoD) and other US federal agencies seek to better protect themselves from pervasive and growing
Outdated methods of backing up data leave your organization at risk.
As recent ransomware attacks on Baltimore, Atlanta, and nearly two dozen cities in Texas make clear, the US public sector sits squarely within cyber criminals’ sights. Since 2013, all US states except one have been hit by ransomware attacks at the local, county, or state level – and those are just the attacks made public. In fact, state and local government networks are twice as likely as their commercial counterparts to be infected with ransomware or malware. Federal government agencies have also proven hot targets, with the 2015 OPM and IRS breaches, 2018 Postal Service breach, and 2019 Customs and Border Protection breach offering just a few examples.
Small IT staffs, limited IT budgets, legacy systems, and out-of-date backup methods (or lack thereof) with slow recovery times are compounding the threat to US public sector organizations. It comes as no surprise, then, that many are suffering the consequences. The average cost of a data breach for a US public sector organization is a staggering $2.3 million. But costs come in more than just dollars and cents. With sensitive data and operations at stake, organizations also risk losses in productivity and public trust. The US public sector should rest easy though – there is a better way.
