Improve Cybersecurity With Hackers.

It’s good to know the government is finally looking towards some real-life scenarios in changing how they view cybersecurity. According to a recent article from FederalTimes.com the government is finally looking at the knowledge of hackers to help improve cybersecurity instead of relying only on compliance.

The strategy would fix the current model’s focus on compliance, rather than security, according to Alan Paller, director of the Maryland-based SANS Institute, a computer research center. “We’re trying to secure systems rather than secure compliance,” Paller said. “If you know how [hackers] are getting in, you’d have to be crazy not to use your resources to stop that. But people are too focused on compliance.”

When you get into these big organizations, the level of compliance that needs to be met can be overwhelming. Having to meet thousands of pages of regulatory requirements, it’s almost impossible to ensure that every machine or network appliance is up to par for these standards. But if you take a step back and at least ensure that your current vulnerabilities are being fixed and stopped, then at least you can ensure your basic levels of security are met, and you can continue to work towards regulatory compliance.

The use of hackers to find current vulnerabilities has been used throughout many companies for a while now, and I’m simply glad sectors of the government have finally started to see the value in this approach and are at least looking seriously at it as an alternative.