3 Reasons to Leverage LiFi at Your Agency

An interview with Fernando DeLosReyes, Solutions Architect Manager, Wildflower International

Sometimes, too many people want the same thing. Take WiFi. For years, agencies have relied on this wireless networking technology – which uses radio waves – to exchange data between digital devices. But now, the radio frequency (RF) spectrum is getting crowded. And although new parts of the RF spectrum, such as the 6 GHz spectrum, are becoming available, every day more devices connect to the network and add to the congestion. For agencies, the result can be slower and less reliable communications. Even worse, the data involved in these communications faces more risk from security threats like signal jamming.

Enter LiFi. LiFi is a wireless technology that uses cones of light to exchange data rather than radio waves. With LiFi, agencies can communicate not only faster and more consistently, but more securely, too.

“There is a limit to the RF spectrum,” said Fernando DeLosReyes, Solutions Architect Manager at Wildflower International, an IT solutions provider. “LiFi can reduce the RF footprint.”

DeLosReyes discussed three benefits that adopting LiFi can provide to agencies:

1. Lighten workloads

WiFi requires antennas, access points and receivers to operate, so installing access points can become difficult and time-consuming for agencies. For instance, establishing WiFi in a tactical environment involving tents for a military unit may take many labor hours and running networking cables. Additionally, mounting, securing and managing these WiFi networks can become more complicated as the number of access points grows.

LiFi can reduce most of this clutter. Typically, LiFi installations require only one cable for both the technology’s light and networking capabilities. As a result, agencies spend less energy, money and time establishing LiFi than they would WiFi. “Setting LiFi up is incredibly easy,” DeLosReyes said. “We can go anywhere in the world and use this technology.”

2. Reduce interference

Radio waves are vulnerable to interference from common devices such as baby monitors, cell phones and microwaves. Furthermore, WiFi is often unreliable in areas like airports and hospitals because of RF congestion.

LiFi avoids these pitfalls because fewer devices rely on light waves. Even better, LiFi’s lighting not only boasts the potential for higher connectivity than WiFi’s radio waves, but provides higher security, too. That’s because cones of light are easier to contain in enclosed spaces than radio waves.

3. Strengthen security

Speaking of security, LiFi is free of many of the potential vulnerabilities plaguing WiFi. For instance, data transfers involving WiFi are easier to detect and interfere with than their LiFi counterparts. All agencies handle sensitive citizen data, so this reality can cause major security problems for their workforces.

“Security is paramount to agencies’ security and our national security,” DeLosReyes said. “LiFi has emerged as a very compelling wireless technology.”

Ultimately, LiFi solutions like those Wildflower provides can help agencies see their data exchange and security in a new light.

“We’re bringing what is coming around the corner to our customers,” DeLosReyes said.

The cybersecurity EO strives to remove many of these obstacles. It eliminates many of the contractual restraints that businesses currently have when reporting incident and threat intelligence to agencies such as the FBI that investigate and remediate cybersecurity problems. The EO additionally requires IT providers to share details about breaches that could affect government networks. Together, these actions streamline the communication among everyone involved in national cybersecurity.

4. What does the EO mean for state and local agencies?

The EO could give state and local agencies more cybersecurity resources. Take the Cyber Safety Review Board. After noteworthy attacks, the board could make state and local agencies safer from cyberthreats.

A nationwide labeling system could also make state and local agencies more informed about the security of the software products and services they purchase. By procuring higherrated tools, agencies of every stripe may reduce or even avoid painful cybersecurity experiences.

Potentially, the EO’s largest benefit is connecting the private sector and state and local agencies. Private-sector insights could help state and local agencies find, stop and recover from potential threats. For instance, companies could notify state and local governments when they have suffered a breach that may harm their constituents and employees.

What the EO Means for Processes

Cybersecurity and Workflow Details

Agencies should not overlook the benefits of modernizing their cybersecurity processes. Take automation, which can perform simple, manual tasks with little to no human input. Automating tasks like patching software vulnerabilities reduces workloads for government employees while performing some of their responsibilities faster. At their best, quality workflows like these can make agencies more capable of serving the public and earning mission wins.

Take the advantages healthy cybersecurity processes offer agencies’ workforces. Internally, these workflows can make employees more prepared for cybersecurity incidents. When disaster strikes, these workers have processes that are faster, more flexible and more collaborative. As a result teams are not only more capable of handling cyberattacks, they are more resilient too.

Robust cybersecurity processes can also benefit the public. Once implemented, clear workflows can provide more accountability and transparency about cybersecurity to constituents.

1. Is there a standard response for cyberattacks?

Agencies cannot wait until their technology is compromised to decide how their workforces will respond. Recently, countless cyberattacks have demonstrated that cybersecurity maturity varies wildly across every category of agency.

The cybersecurity EO will help overcome these pitfalls by creating a standard playbook for responding to cybersecurity incidents. This playbook will provide agencies with a common

set of cybersecurity terms. The document also recommends concrete steps agencies should take when identifying and stopping cybersecurity threats. The playbook will declare which National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) cybersecurity standards agencies must follow. Once all the federal agencies are on the same page about cybersecurity, the hope is that other agencies and the private sector follow suit.

2. How does the EO change how agencies log cybersecurity events?

The information from network and system logs can assist agencies with investigating and remediating cybersecurity incidents. But some agencies do not properly log this information, making it more difficult to detect intrusions, mitigate ongoing breaches and determine the damage from an attack. Without these insights, agencies may not know the security of the data they are storing on premises or with third-party vendors like cloud providers.

To tackle this challenge, the cybersecurity EO will set requirements for logging and protecting incident details. These policies will cover everything from how long to retain logs to how to safekeep the information they contain. Eventually, the EO’s policies will ensure that security teams have centralized access and visibility into every cybersecurity incident log at their agencies.

3. How should agencies approach cybersecurity next?

Contact sports need rules, and cybersecurity is no exception. To that end, Biden’s EO will outline the federal government’s Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) initiative. Like other EDR strategies, the federal version will continually monitor endpoint data to find and stop the cyberthreats menacing these devices. EDR programs strive to make organizations proactive, rather than reactive, about cybersecurity. The goal is to construct processes for active cyberthreat hunting, containment, remediation and incident response at federal agencies.

4. How will the EO touch state and local cybersecurity processes?

Frequently, starting from scratch is the hardest part of establishing routines. Fortunately, the EO explains how federal agencies will set the standard that state and local agencies can use for their own cybersecurity processes.

Consider the federal playbook for engaging with cybersecurity events. By giving state and local agencies an example to emulate, the playbook reduces the amount of time they might spend drafting their own documents. State and local agencies typically have smaller budgets and workforces than their federal counterparts, so any advantage counts when dealing with cyberthreats.

The same principle applies to other cybersecurity processes such as event-logging and EDR guidelines. By standardizing the tactics federal agencies use, the EO may prompt similar activities at state and local agencies.