Using Risk Prioritization to Strengthen Distributed Workforce Security

The basics of telework are in place for agencies – IT teams are prioritizing a careful assessment of cyber risks, current protections and what is needed to keep systems and data safe in an environment with exponentially more endpoints. As the number of devices outside of the protected network grows, the attack surface expands and risk increases.

However, many agencies were already struggling with basic cyber hygiene before the transition to a distributed workforce – and most of the security tools implemented were designed for local enterprises. As more employees are working remotely, there is increased risk – and the security tools in place become even less effective.

Why federal IT teams should focus on risk prioritization

In a recent Cyber Defense Magazine article, I discuss why federal IT teams should focus on risk prioritization and remediation of high risk vulnerabilities as they work to strengthen remote infrastructures. Furthermore, teams must understand risk in a similar way that corporate/agency leadership think about it, accounting for not just IT security risk, but Operational and Financial risk as well. Risk prioritization can help IT teams evaluate the infrastructure beyond vulnerabilities and threats to help determine how to accurately assess not only an endpoint’s security level but the organization’s overall risk level. By prioritizing risks, security teams can more effectively allocate their already limited resources to focus on those areas which will have the most impact on risk reduction.

Improve visibility and control and align teams

Tanium’s holistic approach helps enable improved visibility and control over the agency network, regardless of where an endpoint is located. With this approach in mind, teams can understand what is impacting the enterprise, mitigate each risk immediately and remediate.

By aligning security and operations teams on Tanium’s unified endpoint management and security platform, agencies can break down the data silos and close the accountability, visibility and resilience gaps that often exist between these teams. This helps agencies leverage a modernized approach for end-to-end visibility across end-users, servers and cloud endpoints as well as the ability to identify assets, protect systems, detect threats, respond to attacks and recover at scale.

Modernize IT infrastructure

As agencies continue to evolve their work environment – modernizing infrastructure and applications to meet demands – it is critical to consider the sustainability of solutions long-term, specifically in terms of mitigating the inherent risk a distributed workforce carries. To make good decisions about risk and improve overall infrastructure security, IT teams must start with good data.

To read the full article, visit Cyber Defense Magazine.