Partner POV: Top Signs Your Government In-House Cybersecurity Resources Aren't Cutting It Anymore

This article was written and contributed by our partner, F5.

Their traditional WAF and DDoS solutions are increasingly ineffective to protect a complex mix of apps and APIs from an increasing number of risks and evolving threats. When you combine this with state and local agencies being some of the most highly targeted organizations by hackers—including malicious state actors and fraudsters—the risk of not having the best protection in place is too great to ignore. 

But how do you know when your cybersecurity resources may not be best aligned to handle the latest challenges? The following are some of the top signs your current cybersecurity setup is struggling to maintain effectiveness.

You must choose between effectiveness and ease-of-use

Finding a security solution that is both effective and easy to use and implement has left many government IT professionals frustrated. Ditch the pros and cons list associated with choosing effectiveness over ease-of-use, and vice versa—and look for a security solution that has both and is:

• Delivered via a SaaS form factor and includes automatic vulnerability patching, which means no hardware or software to manage and maintain
• Easily managed via UI or via API, which can be used to speed up/automate deployment and management tasks as well as integrate with existing app solutions and workflows—as in literally can be up and running in a few minutes
• Designed to help organizations simplify app infrastructure and tools, reducing # of vendors and creating consistency in their environment across clouds, their existing data centers, on-prem, etc.
• Able to enhance/increase collaboration across teams—with self-service and separation of duties enabling teams (Devs, SecOps, NetOps, etc.) to operate within a common platform, with a set of services for groups to work together in enabling modern apps

Operational expenses related to cybersecurity are soaring

Oftentimes, agencies are criminally understaffed to handle all the responsibilities required of IT departments. Sure, they do what they can with the solutions they have, and most the time are extremely effective. However, even the smallest vulnerabilities can lead to catastrophic results. Managed services augment your in-house resources and decrease operational expenses with a solution that is deployed and maintained by certified experts.

Consider choosing solutions that are backed by sophisticated Threat Campaigns intelligence feeds, so you'll sleep better at night knowing that your apps and APIs will always be protected against the latest and most sophisticated attacks.

Latency and user frustration from unnecessary security challenges keep adding up

Balancing security with usability is one of the most challenging aspects of any digital experience. The goal undeniably is to use security to protect your users. But while strict security and fraud controls may stop some attackers, they will impact the experience for all.

Traditional security mitigations like CAPTCHA and SMS-based multi-factor authentication (MFA) can introduce unwanted friction into the digital experience. When constituents or government employees are unhappy, it leads to user dissatisfaction and increased support costs. Ironically, fraudsters can easily bypass these tools. To keep online and mobile experiences seamless, while preventing fraud at the same time, you need a security strategy that's more effective and less invasive.

Security bottlenecks are slowing down DevOps

Rapid innovation cannot come at the expense of security. The right cybersecurity solutions make security a part of the development process from the beginning. Agencies can address vulnerabilities before deployment, resulting in more secure applications without compromising innovation. ​

You spend an inordinate amount of time managing hardware and software

While this one is briefly included in the above ease-of-use section, it really does warrant a dedicated expansion here, along with a few key questions to ask yourself:

• How difficult is it to deploy and maintain your security solution?
• Does the user or administrator have to install custom endpoint software, or is protection automatic?
• If there is no endpoint presence, how does the vendor detect rooted mobile devices?
• How does it detect attacks using the latest security tools and data from the Dark Web? What about APIs?

Consider a security solution delivered via a SaaS form factor that runs across clouds and architectures, seamlessly deploying customized protections that maximize visibility and security efficacy without introducing friction to the application development lifecycle or customer experience.

In a complex world, government agencies don't have time to stay ahead of every potential security risk; they need a solution that reduces complexity while improving security and performance. If you're questioning whether your government in-house cybersecurity resources are still cutting it, learn how F5 public sector cybersecurity solutions can help.