The Preferred Way to Protect Government Data

State sponsored cyber attacks on American networks and endpoints is both in the news and a daily fact of life. For government employees, processes to thwart security threats include strategies to protect databases and servers in data centers, locking down endpoints (like laptops and notebooks), and educating employees about everyday social engineering threats (clicking on destructive malware on a website or answering a malicious email).

Security officials give special attention to securing everyday network communications. To keep daily work communications private and secure, government workers access various levels of secure networks. Depending on need, workers may access different levels of communications security each day. This is referred to as multi-level computing.

The Preferred Way to Protect Government Data

It previous blogs concerning government security challenges, we have noted how the issue is extremely complex. Planning for security threats includes protecting databases and servers in data centers, locking down endpoints (like laptops and notebooks), and educating employees about everyday social engineering threats (clicking on destructive malware on a website or answering a malicious email).

In addition, government workers must be mindful about how secure their everyday network communications are. To keep communications private and secure, government workers access various levels of secure networks. This is multi-level computing.

Examples of protected information networks include NIPRNet (private IP network), SIPRNet (classified), and JWICS (top secret). 

Government and military workers often use virtualization tools at the endpoint to most best access these networks. Today, the preferred virtualization tool is SecureView, developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and implemented by NCS Technologies.

The Preferred Way to Protect Government Data

Citizens, security vendors and agencies are in agreement that protecting sensitive data is a must. But it is a continuing challenge, with the definition of success constantly changing. As a recent report from Deloitte noted, the challenge of implementing effective government cyber security is an "obstacle to long-awaited digital transformation".  The security vendor Thales notes that "external threats are becoming more menacing and sophisticated".

The topic itself is extremely complex, including protecting databases and servers in data centers, locking down endpoints (like laptops and notebooks), and educating employees about everyday social engineering threats (clicking on destructive malware on a website or answering a malicious email).

In addition, government workers must be mindful about how secure their everyday network communications are. To keep communications private and secure, government workers access various levels of secure networks.

Examples of protected information networks include NIPRNet (private IP network), SIPRNet (classified), and JWICS (top secret). 

Government and military workers often use virtualization tools at the endpoint to most best access these networks. Today, the preferred virtualization tool is SecureView, developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and implemented by NCS Technologies.

Protecting Government Data With SecureView

A review of data breach incidents shows that foreign intelligence agencies remain focused on penetrating U.S. government organizations. Russia's ongoing hacking of U.S. assets are related to the historical competition between the two nations going back to the beginning of the Cold War. But Russia is not the only worry, as there are also worrisome hacking incidents tied to the Chinese People's Liberation Army and the China Ministry of State Security. From that part of the world North Korea also presents challenges. Close U.S. ally South Korea claims that North Korea pilfered classified military secrets tied to joint South Korea--U.S. operational plans. Finally, Iran remains a headache, and is linked to multiple malware and espionage incidents, in particular the hacking group that the company FireEye calls Advanced Persistent Threat 33.

U.S. government agencies must remain vigilant against all hacking threats, both known and unknown. And threats are real. Agencies that have been victimized include the National Security Agency, the National Archives and Records Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Office of Personnel Management, the U.S. Postal Service, and the Internal Revenue Service.

SecureView government security, offered by NCS, helps locks down government secrets. It particularly addresses the need to protect employee acess to multiple protected networks from one workstation or PC.

Government and military are using virtualization tools at the desktop to most effeciently access these networks. SecureView, developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and implemented by NCS, is the virtualization solution of choice.

Protecting Government Data Is a Daily Challenge

As the year is drawing to a close, it's important to recognize that protecting IT data remains one of the most important tasks in the workplace. Data breaches involve many different circumstances, but the loss of government data is always significant - and painful. Well known data breaches have victimized the National Security Agency, the U.S. voter database, the National Archives and Records Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Office of Personnel Management, the U.S. Postal Service, and the Internal Revenue Service.

Circumstances involving each data breach have been different. This blog addressed good security hygiene at the desktop level, where workers routinely access  information networks. Examples of protected information networks include NIPRNet (private IP network), SIPRNet (classified), and JWICS (top secret). 

More and more, the government and military are using virtualization tools at the desktop to most effeciently access these networks. Today, this is most effeciently done through SecureView, developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and implemented by NCS Technologies.

Equifax Data Breach Means Continued Data Security Vigilance is Essential

The massive Equifax data breach illustrates once again that organizations who have the most at stake in protecting secrets can still be vulnerable to catastrophic missteps and security holes. These security laps may cause harm for years and even decades.

Equifax is a publicly-held company. Its business as an international credit bureau by definition makes it the repository to some of the most precious personal data in existence. Yet due to poor controls, the credit histories of 143 million people have now been exposed to the bad guys. In a similar way, government agencies hold extremely valuable secrets, many related to private information or national security. In recent years government agencies at all levels have proved vulnerable to significant data losses. The data breaches are well known and include agencies such as the National Security Agency, the office of Personnel Management, the Georgia Secretary of State, the U.S. Postal Service, and the Internal Revenue Service. 

A critical aspect of good data security is protecting government information networks. Examples of protected information networks include NIPRNet (private IP network), SIPRNet (classified), and JWICS (top secret). To access these networks, agencies may use multiple Virtual Machines on a single PC or workstation to access different classification levels. This may be most effeciently done through SecureView, developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and implemented by NCS Technologies.

SecureView Is Becoming Increasingly Popular

Many government employees use the Internet, and more secure networks such as NIPRNet (private IP network), SIPRNet (classified), and JWICS (top secret). Some agencies mandate dedicated PCs for specific communications tasks. But there is a more efficient way to access multiple secure networks. Many agencies now use multiple guest Virtual Machines (VMs) on a single PC or workstation to access different classification levels. These agencies use SecureView, developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and implemented by NCS Technologies.

Users Ponder the Alternatives

The one-day VMware expo Carolina VMUG UserCon is now over, having attracted hundreds of attendees in Charlotte yesterday. NCS staff attending the show met with nearly everyone and report that attendees were very interested in NCS virtual desktop solutions. As expected at VMUG events, sophisticated VMware users expressed hard requirements for improving manageability, driving down cost of ownership and improving security. In all of these metrics, zero clients from NCS Technologies outperform thin clients from the Tier One PC vendors.

An underlying thread to many of the discussions was an interest on the best remote display protocol to implement. Users are aware of choices including Remote Desktop Protocol, PCoIP, Blast and HDX. For the VMware environment, many agreed that RDP, HDX and Blast lacked the fuctionality required to deliver the full PC experience, and the consistency and manageability IT managers prefer.

PCoIP Shines in Both Virtual Desktop and Cloud Environments

Looking back at this very busy month, NCS executives spent a significant amount of time at government agencies, military bases, hospitals, at commercial establishments and participating at trade shows, promoting the ins-and-outs of desktop virtualization. At each stop we continue to find strong interest in PCoIP technology and in NCS zero client solutions, and curiosity about how they measure up against thin clients from the major PC brands.

These customers are becoming more aware every day that thin clients used for virtualization come with significant disadvanges. As they become experienced with thin clients, they are turned off that they are complex to administer. Thin clients often include a small hard drive, an embedded operating system and some memory. They are complex and expensive to use over the long run.  

PCoIP zero clients, in contrast, use an integrated purpose-built processor (from Teradici) that does image decompression and decoding, transmitting pixels instead of data. A zero client PC does not need a general purpose CPU, local storage or an application operating system. PCoIP zero clients are secure and easy to manage and deliver low cost of ownership.

The Trend Points to SecureView

There are a range of networks that government employees use that offer various levels of security protection. Examples include the Internet, NIPRNet (private IP network), SIPRNet (classified), and JWICS (top secret). Some agencies make available multiple dedicated PCs for specific communications tasks. A trend, however, is for the realization of superior security that is up to date and cost efficient. A growing number of agencies use multiple guest Virtual Machines (VMs) on a single PC or workstation to access different classification levels. These agencies are turning to SecureView for government, developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and implemented by NCS Technologies.