“Several parts of the federal government have been shut down for about a month now, and cybersecurity professionals say government websites are becoming more vulnerable to security breaches each day the shutdown lasts,” writes Laura Sydell in their recent NPR article entitled “Shutdown Makes Government Websites More Vulnerable To Hackers, Experts Say.”
Sydell writes that “Visitors to manufacturing.gov, for instance, are finding that the site has become unusable — its information about the manufacturing sector is no longer accessible. Instead, it features this message at the top of the homepage: NOTICE: Due to a lapse in appropriations, Manufacturing.gov and all associated online activities will be unavailable until further notice.”
“Security certificates help keep websites secure, but last week the British security firm Netcraft reported that more than 130 certificates used by U.S. government websites had expired,” the NPR article continues.
According to Sydell, “These certificates make sure users know ‘this is really the government resource that I'm trying to access and not some bad guy,” explains Dan Kaminsky, the chief scientist at the security firm White Ops in the article.
“The lack of a certificate makes it easier for a bad actor to trick you into going to a fake site. Even though there's a warning when you click on a site without an updated certificate, Kaminsky says in the article, ‘people might get used to ignoring the browser warnings’ because of the shutdown. ‘Then you think you're really walking into this site and you're really not."
“He offers a worst-case scenario: Imagine if the security certificate was down for the Social Security Administration website and a bad actor set up a fake site. Someone could go to the bogus site, enter their password, and give the hackers access to personal information,” shares Sydell.
Question: do you have everything in place to make your property less vulnerable?
Or, are you running things constantly behind the eight ball?
Does your operation have deficiencies that lead to you and your team being vulnerable?
If so, let’s change that today.
Keep reading; whether you’ve got the right things in place to keep your vulnerability down, we’ve got insight in this article you can use.
Keep Your Vulnerability Low
You’re not charged with keeping hackers out of your data.
The responsibilities of your operation go beyond that.
You’ve got to keep your customers safe.
And that’s a tremendous responsibility.
One that we know you don’t – and never – take lightly.
But, that can often mean you’re going to be vulnerable to threats at any moment.
There are a lot of things to do throughout your property, and one mistake could lead to holes in your operation someone or something exploits.
We want you to avoid this – prevent this completely.
It’s time to employ Proactive Operations to take your initiatives and abilities further.
We’re talking beyond processes, and into your overall strategy and how your personnel is organized.
There is so much involved in keeping your property protected than a few process or procedures here there.
It starts with a foundation that goes all the way to the technology you use.
Proactive Operations is how you do it.
Proactive Operations vs. Your Current Vulnerable Operation
An operation becomes more vulnerable the more reactive it is.
Agree?
That’s why the employment of Proactive Operations is critical to your operation’s ability to be less vulnerable, but also to achieve the maximum performance you need.
Proactive Operations is a methodology by which property operations utilize strategy, infrastructure, and technology to achieve maximum performance.
With it, your organization can manage everything that occurs to ensure a safe and memorable experience for your customers.
That includes countering threats and keeping your vulnerability low.
Unlike reactive operations, Proactive Operations provides you a disciplined framework for streamlining processes, resources, personnel, information, and communication.
Its purpose is to give you total control of your operation.
Many operations pay attention to one or even two aspects of the methodology, and the critical takeaway is that you must focus on all three pillars of it.
You will stay in your current state of vulnerability if you do not.
And then by continuously examining, improving, and optimizing your operation, you program your ability to manage everything 24/7 365 – proactively.
Nothing will ever be perfect, but your operation will be close to impenetrable at that point.
Over to You
The government shutdown in the US offers some takeaways and useful lessons for operations anywhere. A lapse in appropriations can lead to vulnerabilities, but so can a lapse in proactivity.
Reactive operations can do things that create holes in their operation. They can open the door to outside threats. You need to keep your vulnerability low.
It’s time to employ Proactive Operations because you’re in the business of keeping your customers safe and creating memories.
