Focusing on Cybersecurity could be Risky Busine by Lisa De Luca

High-impact cyberattacks have been pummeling federal systems at an ever-increasing pace and have been the driving force for a renewed conversation around our nation's cybersecurity capabilities. However, often overlooked in this discussion is the fact that cybersecurity is simply one component of overall information security, i.e., the practice of defending information (both physical and digital) from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, perusal, inspection, recording or destruction. It is of utmost importance that federal agencies expand the stringent security-focused mindset that has been applied to cybersecurity and replicate that diligence across the entire information ecosystem. The effectiveness and longevity of our government is dependent on the ability to operate in the face of everyday risk scenarios, meaning agencies must institute proper disaster resilience and recovery measures now to ensure we do not succumb to the risk of losing critically important information in the future. Agency employees must have confidence not only that the information under their agency's control is properly secured, but also that they will be able to access necessary information where and when they need it.

A recent Market Connections survey underwritten by Iron Mountain - that sought to measure confidence levels of federal managers who are responsible for managing records across the federal government, whether records professionals or Lines of Business (LOB) managers - has provided a concerning look into our nation's risk management and post-disaster capabilities. The survey found that one in five (22 percent) LOB respondents are not at all confident they will have access to information post-disaster. Only four in 10 (41 percent) of total respondents are very confident that they would have access to records in their agency's designated Continuity of Operations SLA in the event of a disaster. These statistics point to a systemic lack of internal confidence in the government's ability to recover its records in the event of a disaster.

In the face of a disaster, our nation is dependent on the government's ability to remain operational or get back up and running as quickly as possible. In order to truly protect their information and assets, agencies must be able to use methods such as tape backup and offline storage to physically unplug from the network if the worst should happen. Additionally, by transitioning records to secure, dedicated data centers, agencies have uninterrupted access to information in protected, compliant and resilient facility environments.

If these types of tools and response capabilities have not been integrated into a holistic governance or response plan, employee confidence wanes, and can contribute to higher levels of overall risk. Records professionals need to fully embrace the directives and oversight coming down from the White House and National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), and use those as a base from which to build out a comprehensive information governance and security program.

The lack of access to information and records is not only a concern post-disaster, it is a challenge facing agencies day in and day out. Of all of the respondents in the Market Connections survey, only 33 percent replied that they were very confident that their agency's records are not at risk. When it comes to sensitive information, 33 percent simply is not good enough - you want the people responsible for managing that kind of data to be 100 percent confident that the information in their care is secure.

LINK:	http://blogs.ironmountain.com/2015/industry/federal-government-records...
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