Nixon Peabody LLP

  • People
  • Capabilities
  • Insights
  • About

Trending Topics

    • People
    • Capabilities
    • Insights
    • About
    • Locations
    • Events
    • Careers
    • Alumni

    Practices

    View All

    • Affordable Housing
    • Community Development Finance
    • Corporate & Finance
    • Cybersecurity & Privacy
    • Environmental
    • Franchising & Distribution
    • Government Investigations & White Collar Defense
    • Healthcare
    • Intellectual Property
    • International Services
    • Labor & Employment
    • Litigation
    • Private Wealth & Advisory
    • Project Finance
    • Public Finance
    • Real Estate
    • Regulatory & Government Relations

    Industries

    View All

    • Cannabis
    • Consumer
    • Energy
    • Entertainment
    • Financial Services
    • Healthcare
    • Higher Education
    • Infrastructure
    • Manufacturing
    • Non Profit
    • Real Estate
    • Technology

    Value-Added Services

    View All

    • Alternative Fee Arrangements

      Developing innovative pricing structures and alternative fee agreement models that deliver additional value for our clients.

    • Continuing Education

      Advancing professional knowledge and offering credits for attorneys, staff and other professionals.

    • Crisis Advisory

      Helping clients respond correctly when a crisis occurs.

    • DEI Strategic Services

      Providing our clients with legal, strategic, and practical advice to make transformational changes in their organizations.

    • eDiscovery

      Leveraging law and technology to deliver sound solutions.

    • Global Services

      Delivering seamless service through partnerships across the globe.

    • Innovation

      Leveraging leading-edge technology to guide change and create seamless, collaborative experiences for clients and attorneys.

    • IPED

      Industry-leading conferences focused on affordable housing, tax credits, and more.

    • Legal Project Management

      Providing actionable information to support strategic decision-making.

    • Legally Green

      Teaming with clients to advance sustainable projects, mitigate the effects of climate change, and protect our planet.

    • Nixon Peabody Trust Company

      Offering a range of investment management and fiduciary services.

    • NP Capital Connector

      Bringing together companies and investors for tomorrow’s new deals.

    • NP Second Opinion

      Offering fresh insights on cases that are delayed, over budget, or off-target from the desired resolution.

    • NP Trial

      Courtroom-ready lawyers who can resolve disputes early on clients’ terms or prevail at trial before a judge or jury.

    • Social Impact

      Creating positive impact in our communities through increasing equity, access, and opportunity.

    1. Home
    2. Insights
    3. Articles
    4. Ongoing government shutdown places U.S. cybersecurity in perilArticles

    Article

    Ongoing government shutdown places U.S. cybersecurity in peril

    Jan 17, 2019

    Share
    As the partial government shutdown nears the one-month mark, there is increasing concern that hackers may use the shutdown as an opportunity to infiltrate U.S. government networks.

    As the partial government shutdown nears the one-month mark, there is increasing concern that hackers may use the shutdown as an opportunity to infiltrate U.S. government networks.

    Last November, President Trump launched the Department of Homeland Security’s new Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). CISA’s purpose is to defend the federal government’s computer systems from potential cyberattacks. However, less than two months after its creation, nearly 45% of the agency’s staff has been furloughed due to the shutdown. While some cybersecurity processes can be automated, many others require analysts to evaluate threat reports and determine the appropriate course of action. And even “essential” cybersecurity functions have been hampered by the shutdown, due to a lack of incoming information from other government agencies.

    At the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which sets and updates security and privacy standards for the government and private sector, nearly 85% of employees are furloughed. The Computer Security Resource Center, where NIST posts its comprehensive guidelines for network and account security, is another casualty of the shutdown—the website is currently unavailable.

    Routine maintenance and security patching of federal websites has also come to a halt, creating opportunities for malicious actors to break a website’s encryption and insert malware. Since the start of the shutdown in December, HTTPS security certificates for over 80 government websites have expired, including pages maintained by the Department of Justice and NASA.

    Aside from direct hacking of federal computer systems, the government shutdown creates an opportunity for hackers to examine network activity and determine which are considered “essential,” in preparation for a future attack. Moreover, the rapidly increasing backlog of unassessed threats and system maintenance has the potential to hinder cybersecurity agencies far into the future, even after this record-setting shutdown finally comes to an end.

     

     

     

     

     

    PrivacyCybersecurity

    Subscribe to stay informed of the latest legal news, alerts, and business trends.Subscribe

    • People
    • Capabilities
    • Insights
    • About
    • Locations
    • Events
    • Careers
    • Alumni
    • © 2023 Nixon Peabody. All rights reserved
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Statement of Client Rights
    • Supplier Diversity Program
    • Nixon Peabody International LLC
    • PAL