Government Shutdown Is Real, So Are Cyber Threats

There were many national security and consumer vulnerabilities exposed in 2018 as a result of the federal government’s lack of properly trained cyber personnel. The demand for skilled workers in this sector has never been higher. In case you forgot about the numerous incidents that occurred pre-government shutdown, some of 2018’s lowlights included:

• A November 2018, 73 GB data breach that exposed 114 million private records of U.S. citizens and companies, including an estimated 83 million individuals.

• Chinese government supported hackers compromising the computers of a Naval contractor working on a Navy submarine and underwater programs project.

• Hackers leveraged code vulnerabilities against 29 million users of social media app Facebook, exposing "access tokens" which uncovered digital keys that gave them full access to compromised users' accounts.

• The exposing of 52.5 million Google+ personal user profiles, leading to the permanent discontinuation of the platform this coming April 2019.

• The revelation that there were over 300,000 cybersecurity-related job openings in the private and public sectors between April 2017 and March 2018.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom as the off-balance federal government attempted to regain it’s footing with the Senate’s passage of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act (CISA). CISA establishes a new, standalone cybersecurity agency to be managed under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

One major philosophical change that comes with CISA, is that going forward, the legislation designates DHS as the main authority in addressing cyber threats going forward.

This will be executed by centralizing most of the government’s cyber resources under one single entity. Before the passage of CISA, the U.S. had several sizable cyber programs under the umbrella of multiple government agencies. This led to poor communication and issues regarding jurisdiction over certain matters.

Other important and recent pieces of legislation introduced at both the state and federal level included the National Beach Notification Law (NBNL) the bi-partisan Cyber Diplomacy Act, a flurry of legislation that imposes sanctions against the Russian government in response to election meddling and the State of California’s Consumer Privacy Act.

• The National Breach Notification Law (NBNL) is a bill introduced by the House Financial Services Committee that amends the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) to include a new national breach notification within financial industry that supersedes current individual state laws. This bill looks to streamline and standardize the reporting of data hacks to consumers by financial institutions.

• The Cyber Diplomacy Act (H.R. 3776) is a bipartisan measure introduced by Reps. Edward Royce, R-Calif., and Elliot Engel, D-N.Y., that has now moved on to the Senate. It would require the government to secure and implement commitments from other countries on proper cyberspace behavior. This entails generating new agreements between nations to not engage in or support cybercriminal activity including the theft of intellectual property.

• After a recent history of infrastructure hacks and speculation as to the extent of their election meddling, Congress has introduced measures designed to sanction the Russian government, including the International Cybercrime Prevention Act, that allows prosecutors to “shut down botnets and other digital infrastructure that can be used for a wide range of illegal activity,” and the Defending the Integrity of Voting Systems Act, that enables the Justice Department to "pursue federal charges for the hacking of any voting system that is used in a federal election."

• California AB 375 — The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, which many are speculating can be a precursor to an eventual US version of Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), will be taking effect in 2020 and will be the strictest privacy measure enacted by any state in the nation.

With America’s lofty cybersecurity goals ahead in the new year being stymied by the government shutdown, the rate at which new legislation and government bureaucracies are implemented is sure to be slowed down. The already existing void within the public sector cybersecurity industry may only grow larger as instability within the government may drive many of the country’s top IT talent to the private sector.

With the heightened potential for another worldwide cyber attack in the vein of 2017’s WannaCry outbreak, so called "non-essential" government personnel need to return to work expeditiously to ensure the online safety of everything from critical infrastructure to our personal data.

Julio Rivera is a small business consultant, political activist, writer and Editorial Director for Reactionary Times. He has been a regular contributor to Newsmax TV and columnist for Newsmax.com since 2016. His writing, which is concentrated on politics, cybersecurity and sports, has also been published by websites including The Hill, The Washington Times, LifeZette, The Washington Examiner, American Thinker, The Toronto Sun and PJ Media and many others. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.