State-sponsored actors and hacker groups are seeking out public sector organizations with surgical precision. Labeled as Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), government-sponsored actors have the intent to take advantage of vulnerabilities in software systems, including ongoing access that would go undetected for months, if not as long as they cared to focus on the government network.
For example, if access to a government scheduling app were compromised, the bad actor could exploit that vulnerability and access internal internal communications in the government. A compromised government database can expose sensitive citizen records, financial records, or even access government network controls for critical infrastructure.
Consequently, it has become critical for public sector IT leaders to understand the vulnerabilities in government software through reliable vulnerability intelligence services
Legacy Systems and Security Debt
One of the principal contributors to security debt found in government software is reliance on outdated frameworks. Multiple agencies still rely on legacy systems that were designed before cyber threats were a real issue. Many legacy government frameworks are now demonstrably incapable of modern authentication controls and don’t allow for easy integration with more modern security controls.
The risks of legacy frameworks in government systems is a common, persistent issue. When it is difficult or impossible to upgrade frameworks and tools because they are not compatible with newer frameworks and tools, the public sector is unable to keep pace with patching, which leads to all sorts of problems the criminal hacking community can take advantage of.
This leads to the same cycle of patch management problems found in many public sector IT agencies where software vulnerabilities exist and don’t get patched or fixed, simply because remediate the vulnerabilities is complex or too difficult to solve operationally.
Open Source Software Vulnerabilities
The federal government’s dependency on open-source software has its advantages, such as cost reduction and flexibility. However, it does introduce vulnerabilities associated with government open source programs.
Hackers recognize that government agencies frequently use common libraries and frameworks in open-source projects. If there is a vulnerability in a common library used in multiple government open-source programs, that vulnerability may impact other systems and programs in the government as well.
Increased Exposure Due to Budget Constraints and Security Gaps.
Budgetary constraints can only worsen the current situation. When IT security budgets are limited, government agencies often cannot hire enough qualified personnel, invest in effective monitoring tools, or support robust patching cycles. The budget environment in government often delays time-to-remediation regarding security vulnerabilities. The downtime gives the attackers time to exploit weaknesses before remediating these vulnerabilities.
A government municipality may have dozens of critical vulnerabilities that are identified. However, due to limited resources there may not be enough bandwidth to apply the necessary patches or update outdated systems. Third-party software risk is heightened in government systems due to the fact that many government applications rely on third-party software vendors to maintain systems and applications.
The Role of Incident Response Planning
Even with the best prevention strategies, breaches may still occur. Incident response planning for agencies is therefore essential. A robust plan includes defined protocols, communication channels, and recovery strategies. When boards and leadership understand the risks, they can make informed decisions about resource allocation and risk prioritization.
Scenario-based drills can help demonstrate the potential impact of attacks. For instance, a simulated ransomware attack on a tax processing system can highlight vulnerabilities and expose weaknesses in patch management, helping teams refine their response processes.
Moving Toward Modern Security Architectures
In an effort to address Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) recent months have seen government agencies, and many organizations, begin to explore and adopt modern security frameworks where zero trust architecture is being put into place in government. Zero trust assumes that threats are present both inside and outside the network and emphasizes continuous validation of users, devices, and applications in order to reduce risk of compromise.
Adopting a zero trust model can be complex and challenging particularly in organizations that have a legacy framework risk in government, however utilizing this model can dramatically bolster an organization’s security posture. Segmentation of networks, enforcement of strict access controls, and continuous activity monitoring are just a few approaches to diminishing the Damage Potential of existing government software vulnerabilities.
Third-Party and Supply Chain Risks
Numerous government agencies rely on external vendors for their products. These vendor partnerships are necessary relationships; however, they expose government agencies to third-party software risk. When the vendor’s software they are leveraging has security weaknesses or delayed updates to it, they have introduced a new attack vector. Or what about the case where the contractor’s security weakness allowed an attacker to access the contractor’s environment and then cascade into the government agency’s critical applications? These examples reinforce the need for robust vendor risk management.
Maintaining effective monitoring and identifying where to allocate your limited resources is critical to addressing vulnerabilities in government software. Cyble’s Cyber Threat Intelligence Platform is an example of monitoring tools that give organizations a better understanding of potential adversaries and their behaviors. This insight will allow government agencies to identify what vulnerabilities the potential adversaries are more likely to exploit and ensure the agency addresses these vulnerabilities through remediation efforts.
For example, after monitoring efforts identify a potential adversary who is actively exploiting a specific open-source library utilized by several departments and agencies. Your IT teams can prioritize their patching efforts against that vulnerability in the respective products. This is a win-win – less time to remediate vulnerabilities in government software and to pay down security debt across software used by government agencies will be reduced.
Bridging the Gap Between Technology and Governance
Leadership must understand that cyber risk is not only a technical problem but a governance issue. Board-level understanding of cyber risk in the public sector ensures that decision-makers allocate resources appropriately, approve necessary software upgrades, and support incident response planning. By aligning IT security with strategic priorities, agencies can reduce legacy framework risk in government systems and address critical vulnerabilities proactively.
Lessons for Public Sector Agencies
- Prioritize Vulnerabilities: Not every flaw poses the same risk. Identify and address things that could be severe problems first.
- Invest in Threat Intelligence: Real-time insights help you prevent and understand the potential for an attack.
- Strengthen Governance: Leadership should be aware of and involved in making cyber risk decisions.
- Modernize Legacy Systems: Driving modernization will reduce exposure in the long run and allow for easier patching.
- Test Incident Response Plans: Use simulated attacks to improve readiness and reduce the time to respond to an attack.
Conclusion
Federal agencies continue to wrestle with securing software despite the increase of sovereign-state threats against them. Because of dependencies on legacy software systems, vulnerabilities across government software, as well as open source software, and budgetary restraints, government is in constant recovery mode. Dealing with those vulnerabilities is a little more than just adjusting to using modern software architectures like zero trust architecture in government, having incident response planning for agencies, or real-time threat intelligence architecture.
Ultimately, dealing with government software vulnerabilities comes down to a mixed approach of technology, strategy, and leadership. Agencies that adopt a security posture based on intelligence, and proactive governance, will be correctly positioned against nation-state threats in an evolving threat landscape to better protect their data and critical infrastructure they