Cybersecurity Challenges for Governments in 2023

The Biggest Cybersecurity Challenges for Governments in 2023

Government departments and agencies face many of the same cybersecurity threats as other organizations. However, their unique situation, lack of awareness and preparedness to fend off cyber attacks, and access to troves of sensitive and valuable data also expose them to other threats and more sophisticated cyber adversaries.

Below, we take a closer look at some of the biggest cybersecurity challenges that governments face in 2023.

Hacktivism

Hacktivism is the use of cyberattacks to carry out political or social goals. Often, these attacks target government organizations to protest against their actions or policies.

In the last few years, hacktivist attacks have grown more common and sophisticated. In 2022 alone, organizations in Ukraine, Iran, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, Belarus, Costa Rica, Austria, the UK, Albania, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States have all suffered major cyberattacks by destructive ransomware or wiper malware. You can learn more about these attacks in Check Point’s 2023 Cyber Security Report.

The recent Ukraine-Russia conflicts, for instance, have spawned many attacks against one side or the other that were motivated by the attacker’s support for the other side. As these groups invest in tools and training for their members, they pose a greater threat to governments’ ability to sustain their operations.

Ransomware Attacks

Ransomware has emerged as one of the most significant cybersecurity threats of recent years. Ransomware operators have found great success in encrypting sensitive and valuable data and demanding payment to regain access to it. Over the past few years, these attacks have evolved to include double-extortion attacks and ransomware as a service.

The latest iteration of the ransomware threat eliminates data encryption entirely in favor of data extortion. The ransomware operators gain access to sensitive data and threaten to expose it publicly if the target — and potentially its partners, customers, and vendors — don’t pay a ransom.

Wipers and Destructive Malware

Wipers and other forms of destructive malware are designed to destroy an organization’s access to sensitive or valuable data. Unlike ransomware, the data cannot be recovered even if the company is willing to pay a ransom.

Wipers and destructive malware are increasingly in use during cyberattacks against governments. For example, WhisperGate, HermeticWiper, HermeticWizard, and HermeticRansom are all destructive and disruptive malware used against Ukraine during its conflict with Russia. These and other attacks against other countries have demonstrated how common these tactics have become.

Data Breaches

Government organizations have access to large volumes of sensitive and valuable data. In addition to state secrets, governments also have personal information about their constituents that could be valuable to cybercriminals. Governments’ abundance of sensitive and valuable data make data breaches a major threat to government cybersecurity. As threat actors become more numerous and sophisticated and data extortion becomes the norm in ransomware attacks, governments will face more dangerous attacks.

The Weaponization of Legitimate Tools

Cybercriminals can write their own malicious code. However, often, the same functionality is built into a computer’s operating system or available via legitimate tools. Software developed for ethical hacking and penetration testing also implements offensive security functions.

This practice of “living off the land” has benefits for cybercriminals. By using legitimate functions built into their targets, cybercriminals can make their attacks more difficult to detect. Since many security testing tools are free and open source, cybercriminals can use them to expand their capabilities as well.

The Need for Comprehensive Cybersecurity Solutions for Government

Government organizations face a wide range of cyber threats and need to protect sprawling IT infrastructures, often broken up into multiple departments. Attempting to secure these systems with a patchwork quilt of standalone solutions results in an unusable security infrastructure that misses attacks, especially when government organizations lack the in-house cybersecurity skills and expertise that they need.

The most effective way for a government organization to implement a usable, scalable security architecture is via an integrated, comprehensive security platform. This all-in-one approach enhances security usability and visibility and eliminates security blind spots.