Simplifying Your Agency’s Cybersecurity in 3 Steps

An interview with Fred Hoffmann, Chief Information Officer, Future Tech Enterprise, Inc.

The longer that agencies have depended on their legacy technology, the harder it is for them to leave these tools behind. The reason is simple: the more time that agencies invest in legacy technology, the more energy and money they spend on it, too.

But legacy technology is gradually making publicsector cybersecurity more challenging. Like walls that have weathered away, legacy technology is increasingly leaving agencies exposed to cyberthreats.

“When organizations have older versions of software and databases and are relying on legacy solutions, the level of vulnerabilities is far more extensive,” said Fred Hoffmann, Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Future Tech Enterprise, Inc., an IT solutions provider.

Hoffmann shared three moves agencies can make to help their people, processes and tools leave legacy technology in the past.

1. Act agencywide

When it comes to cybersecurity, Hoffmann recommended that agencies start by making the topic a constant concern agencywide.

“Cybersecurity is not just an IT issue,” he said. “It is a legal, human resources and risk management issue.”

Take cybersecurity training. By consistently training employees on cybersecurity agencywide, agencies can show workers how to apply modern IT like cloud computing to their unique roles.

2. Scrap silos

Agencywide cybersecurity is important for another reason – eliminating silos among teams. Not only are siloed agencies less prepared for cyberthreats, but these agencies may also struggle with modernizing technology quickly, affordably and efficiently. “When organizations do not have a comprehensive view of their IT infrastructure, or make decisions in silos, we see trouble,” Hoffmann said.

So, how can agencies reduce their cybersecurity silos? One option is making IT infrastructure evaluation and upgrade management comprehensive and holistic.

“This is the best way to minimize risk, optimize the value of your IT investments and facilitate any technology changes across an organization,” Hoffmann said.

3. Adopt artificial intelligence

Cloud computing’s decentralized infrastructure allows agencies to leverage computing resources like data storage on demand. As such, modernizing IT often involves cloud adoption because of the technology’s flexibility. But securing clouds can prove difficult when agencies construct environments using on-premise IT, off-premise IT or a hybrid of both. Take cloudbased data. The different IT systems involved with this information can make protecting it difficult. Enter artificial intelligence (AI). AI mimics human cognitive abilities such as reasoning, so it can lend agencies’ employees a hand with cybersecurity issues like defending cloud-based resources.

“Optimizing cloud security starts with heavy and targeted investments in the latest AI-powered solutions, which are designed to provide rapid detection and response to threats,” Hoffmann said.

Providers like FTEI can help agencies map out agencywide modernization journeys involving cutting-edge tools like AI.

“We always strive to be the easiest and most flexible partner for agencies to work with,” Hoffmann said.