Modernizing Federal Government Data Protection

The State of Federal Government Cybersecurity

Government operations, public services, policy decisions, and other functions are all driven by highly distributed data stored on-premises and in hybrid multi-cloud environments. To counter adversaries in a post-quantum future, government entities must speed up the adoption of new data protection strategies and tactics as part of their modernization efforts.

Why now? The threat is real. The AES 256 encryption schemes used in most government and enterprise systems are ripe for decryption by nation states like China. Legacy data monitoring and management tools joined by swivel chairs do not adequately address governments’ current or future data security, resilience, and portability needs. Nor do they provide visibility and control across the entire data ecosystem.

Legacy backup/recovery, SIEM, ITSM, and ITOM tools with automated workflows certainly help detect, respond to, and remediate threats faster, but most anyone can now easily spin up AI-driven cyberattacks in the cloud faster than government cybersecurity teams can respond (e.g. ransomware-as-a-service). Bad actors routinely exploit people, unpatched software, cloud misconfigurations, and vulnerabilities in hardware, software, APIs, and operating systems to extract sensitive data that can later be decrypted using quantum computers. In return, contracted cybersecurity teams fight these advanced, persistent cyberattacks with fewer human resources and mounting technical debt.

Key Cybersecurity Challenges in Government

Government entities routinely face these types of cybersecurity challenges:

• Espionage: As they say, plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery — except when it threatens national security. Nation states leverage multiple types of cyberattacks to capture sensitive U.S. government data, cutting edge research, and other valuable intellectual property that will give them a military or economic advantage over the U.S. Espionage related attacks are particularly pervasive among defense, aerospace, and critical infrastructure companies. Recently, the FBI and CISA announced they are investigating a large-scale cyber-espionage campaign by China-linked threat actors targeting U.S. telecom networks to steal call records and access private communications, mainly of government and political figures. CISA calls this incident a “catastrophic” breach of Verizon, AT&T and Lumen by a Chinese hacking group dubbed Salt Typhoon.
• Legacy System Vulnerabilities: Outdated systems are inherently less secure and hardly futureproof. They lack modern features like AI/ML and automated real-time monitoring, threat detection, incident response, and patch management. This past year there were large-scale attacks on outdated and unpatched software. Ivanti recently released additional security updates to fix more recently discovered vulnerabilities, including three new Cloud Services Appliance (CSA) zero-day attacks tagged as actively exploited.
• Siloed Infrastructure: Federal agencies often function in siloes, making it difficult to standardize and implement uniform data protection protocols across organizations. After all, why would the US Department of Agriculture need to connect to or know what data the State Department has? Plus, they have their IT people, we have ours! As public cloud platforms like AWS and Azure matured, virtual segmentation offered better economies of scale in the cloud. As a result, agencies continue to move certain workloads to secure government clouds like Azure Government and AWS GovCloud. Yet, siloes remain.
• Multi-Cloud Complexity: With data spread across government data centers, and a mix of public and private clouds, it is extremely difficult to secure, monitor and manage it all in one place. This lack of visibility and control across IT and DevSecOps leaves gaps in oversight, policies, and data protection. Deployment of standard frameworks (NIST, Zero Trust, FedRAMP, CDM, etc.), and the recent continuous Authority to Operate (cATO) mandate, have improved data protection, but there’s more to do.

New Lessons Learned from 2024 Cyberattacks

Publicly reported cyber incidents in 2024 provide critical lessons. For example, a major breach exposed vulnerabilities in cloud-based applications, where misconfigured Kubernetes API servers became entry points. This highlighted the importance of securing cluster endpoints with authentication, authorization, and encryption. Here are other lessons learned.

• Supply Chain Integrity: Adopt Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) practices and secure your CI/CD pipelines to detect tampered dependencies.
• API Security Best Practices: Secure all API endpoints exposed by Kubernetes and ensure they are behind authentication gateways.
• Rapid Remediation Protocols: Deploy playbooks that automate responses when anomalous behavior is detected. Using solutions like KubeArmor or Sysdig Secure can help agencies detect, block, and respond to container-level threats in real-time.

Enhancing Government Cybersecurity with Zero Trust

Zero Trust is not a single technology or vendor. Zero Trust (per Executive Order 14028) is an architecture (ZTA) and approach to cybersecurity and risk management. Tactical actions related to identity management, device security, network segmentation, and data protection are critical to building a Zero Trust architecture that secures against both internal and external threats. Here are some tactical actions you can take to ensure a higher security posture aligned with Zero Trust:

• Every access request, inside or outside the network, must be continuously verified.
• User behavior must be monitored.
• Segment networks.
• Ensure least privilege access is enforced.
• Detect and inventory any devices that have access to your environment.
• Determine if core software is up to date and automate the updating process where possible.
• Search for unapproved applications in use.
• Verify how you handle unapproved applications accessing your network.
• Determine if devices are managed by an endpoint protection solution.

Each of these actions should be continuously evaluated and refined to adapt to the evolving cybersecurity landscape.

User Authentication and Identity Management

• Implement Strong Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Ensure that all users, devices, and services authenticate with multiple factors they know (password), something they have (security token), or something they are (biometric verification). Tools like Okta, Duo, or Microsoft Authenticator can be integrated.
• Identity and Access Management (IAM) Integration: Use IAM solutions like Azure Active Directory (AAD), Okta, or Ping Identity to centralize identity management. Enforce the least privileged access and role-based access controls (RBAC) to ensure only necessary permissions are granted.
• Contextual Authentication: Apply adaptive or risk-based authentication to evaluate additional context like location, device health, or the time of access to enforce dynamic policies. Solutions like Cisco Duo or Google BeyondCorp can integrate context-driven authentication.

Device and Endpoint Security

• Device Health Checks and Compliance Monitoring: Implement solutions that continuously assess the health and compliance of devices attempting to connect to your network. Tools like Microsoft Intune, MobileIron, or Tanium allow for device configuration and compliance enforcement before granting access.
• Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR): Deploy EDR solutions (e.g., CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, or Carbon Black) to monitor and protect endpoints from malicious activity. EDR tools detect and respond to advanced threats on devices, maintaining visibility into every access point.
• Ensure Encryption on All Devices: Enforce encryption for both data at rest and in transit on all endpoints. Use technologies like BitLocker for Windows or FileVault for macOS to ensure sensitive data is protected even if devices are compromised.

Network Micro-Segmentation

• Implement Network Micro-Segmentation: Break the network into smaller, isolated segments, limiting lateral movement and ensuring access control policies are enforced within each segment. Solutions like VMware NSX, Cisco ACI, or Illumio provide advanced micro-segmentation capabilities.
• Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA): Replace traditional VPNs with ZTNA solutions that provide secure access to applications based on identity and health devices, such as Zscaler, Cloudflare, or Cisco Duo’s Secure Access Service Edge (SASE).
• Access Control Based on User and Application Context: Define policies that restrict access based on the role of the user, the application being accessed, and the security posture of the device. Implement Network Access Control (NAC) solutions like Aruba ClearPass or Cisco ISE to enforce these policies.

Least Privilege and Access Control

• Enforce Least Privilege Access: Implement Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) or Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC) to ensure users and devices only have the minimum necessary permissions required to perform their jobs. Identity governance platforms like SailPoint or Saviynt can help manage and enforce these policies.
• Continuous Monitoring of Permissions: Conduct regular audits and reviews of user privileges to ensure they have not accumulated unnecessary permissions over time (a concept known as privilege creep). This can be automated using tools like BeyondTrust or CyberArk.
• Just-In-Time (JIT) Privileged Access: For users who need elevated privileges temporarily, implement JIT access mechanisms, ensuring that elevated permissions are granted only for a limited time and then automatically revoked. Solutions like Microsoft Azure AD Privileged Identity Management (PIM) or CyberArk can enable this functionality.

Data Protection and Encryption

• Encrypt Data at Rest and In Transit: Encrypt sensitive data both at rest (on servers or endpoints) and in transit (as it moves across networks). Use tools like Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) for database encryption and TLS for encrypting data in transit.
• Data Resiliency: Regularly test, update, and automate backup and recovery solutions for continuity of operations (COOP) across government operations. Ensure data backups are immutable. Inventory and test current COOP and incident response tools and plans to ensure they provide unified visibility and continuous monitoring of on-premises, hybrid multi-cloud, and Kubernetes workloads. Include any data and applications that must survive failure.
• Data Loss Prevention (DLP): Implement DLP solutions (e.g., Symantec DLP, Digital Guardian) to prevent unauthorized users from accessing or exfiltrating sensitive data. DLP solutions enforce policies that prevent data leaks through email, removable storage, or other unauthorized channels.
• Classify and Label Data Based on Sensitivity: Use data classification tools to categorize information based on its sensitivity level. Automate policies that apply various levels of access control depending on the classification. Microsoft Information Protection or Symantec Data Loss Prevention can assist with this.

Continuous Monitoring and Threat Detection

• Implement Continuous Monitoring with SIEM Solutions: Deploy Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems (e.g., Splunk, IBM QRadar, or Microsoft Sentinel) that centralize logs and events for continuous monitoring and real-time threat detection across all systems and networks.
• Behavioral Analytics: Use User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) tools to establish baselines for normal user and entity behavior and flag deviations that could indicate suspicious activity. Tools like Varonis or Exabeam can detect anomalies based on behavior, improving threat detection.
• Threat Intelligence Integration: Integrate threat intelligence feeds from organizations like CISA, FireEye, or ThreatConnect to stay updated on emerging threats and incorporate them into your monitoring and response strategies.

Automated Incident Response

• Automate Threat Detection and Response: Implement Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) solutions (e.g., Palo Alto Cortex XSOAR, IBM Resilient) to automate incident response workflows. These solutions can help orchestrate the response to security incidents, reducing response time and limiting damage.
• Use Playbooks for Incident Response: Develop and automate standardized playbooks for diverse types of incidents, such as ransomware, phishing, or DDoS attacks. Automating response procedures ensures consistency and quick action.
• Continuous Testing and Drills: Regularly conduct red team exercises, tabletop drills, and penetration tests to evaluate your organization’s response to simulated breaches. Ensure that incident response teams are trained to act quickly and decisively in a real-world attack scenario.

Application Security

• Secure Application Development with DevSecOps: Integrate security into the DevOps pipeline by automating security checks during code development and deployment. Tools like Veracode, Snyk, or Aqua Security can help ensure that vulnerabilities are detected before applications are deployed.
• Microservices and API Security: Apply security controls to APIs, which are often a major attack surface in modern application architectures. Use API gateways like Kong or Apigee, which support authentication, rate limiting, and logging for API traffic.
• Regular Vulnerability Scanning and Patching: Continuously scan applications and infrastructure for vulnerabilities using tools like Nessus or Qualys. Implement patch management systems to ensure that vulnerabilities are addressed in real-time.

Network Security and Firewalls

• Implement Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFW): Use NGFWs such as Palo Alto Networks or Check Point to enforce more granular access control and traffic inspection, blocking malicious activity before it enters the network.
• Micro-Segmentation for Network Segmentation: As mentioned earlier, applying micro-segmentation via technologies like VMware NSX or Cisco ACI allows you to enforce Zero Trust policies on the network layer, isolating workloads to minimize potential damage.
• DNS Filtering and Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS): Implement DNS filtering (e.g., Cisco Umbrella or Zscaler) to block malicious domains and reduce phishing risk and deploy IPS solutions to detect and block intrusions in real-time.

Log Management and Auditing

• Collect and Aggregate Logs from All Resources: Ensure comprehensive log collection across all systems, applications, and networks. Use tools like Elastic Stack (ELK), Splunk, or LogRhythm to aggregate and analyze logs for signs of suspicious activity.
• Audit and Compliance Tracking: Regularly audit access and configuration changes across the system to ensure compliance with Zero Trust policies and frameworks. Automate audit trails with solutions that provide immutable logs for regulatory reporting and internal review.
• Enterprise-wide Backup and Recovery: Regularly test and update backup and recovery solutions for continuity of operations (COOP). Ensure your current COOP and incident responses can provide unified visibility and continuous monitoring of on-premises, hybrid multi-cloud, and Kubernetes workloads.

Strategies for Government Data Resilience

Federal agencies face increased ransomware threats targeting critical data. Modern backup and recovery strategies offer ways to safeguard data even in the event of a breach. But something more is needed since traditional systems often struggle to keep up with the distributed, ephemeral nature of containers including Kubernetes based VMs, making container-specific backup tools essential. However, cloud-native Kubernetes simplifies container orchestration but introduces new security complexities. Federal IT teams can use Kubernetes as both a tool for automation and a secure by design approach to stem potential breaches. Steps for IT Teams:

• Implement Zero-Trust at the Cluster Level: Build and enforce policies that restrict communication between pods. Tools like Open Policy Agent (OPA) help IT teams define fine-grained access rules that align with the Zero-Trust model.
• Secure CI/CD Pipelines: Embed security controls in your CI/CD pipelines to catch vulnerabilities before code enters production. Integrate scanning tools like Snyk or Aqua Security that check for known vulnerabilities within images and dependencies.
• Employ Kubernetes Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Limit user and service account privileges to minimize the attack surface. Configure RBAC policies to enforce the least privilege across all namespaces.

Use Case: A federal agency that manages public-facing applications can mitigate unauthorized access by configuring RBAC and using Kubernetes admission controllers to validate API requests. This ensures that only pre-approved deployments and configurations reach production.

• Container-Aware Backups: Use container-aware tools that will backup and restore workloads to full health.  This provides quicker restore times and saves DevOps teams from having to stitch applications back together after a restore.  Consider Veeam Kasten for Kubernetes-specific backup capabilities that offer volume snapshots, scheduled backups, and point-in-time restores, which are crucial for stateful workloads. Ensure that persistent and configuration data are both captured to prevent a mis-configured config-map or secret from disabling a workload.
• Multiple Backup Targets: In worst-case scenarios where a cluster is lost or the security team deems a cluster compromised, all the internal volume snapshots may be compromised or lost.  Having multiple backup targets increases the chance of a full recovery by having backup data in areas that a ransomware process cannot reach. Best practice is to have three copies of backup data, on two different media types, keep one copy off-site or on the cloud and one copy in immutable (via offline or an air-gapped location) with zero errors. This is also known as the 3-2-1-1-0 backup strategy.
• Immutable Backups: Configure backups that are immutable, ensuring that data cannot be tampered with by ransomware. Immutable storage systems provide an added layer of defense by locking data for specified periods.
• Automate Backup and Restore Testing: Set up scripts that simulate failure scenarios and verify recovery times. Automation platforms can simulate data loss events and trigger failover processes, ensuring systems restore within expected timeframes.

Use Case: An agency managing a sensitive research database could use a multi-cloud backup strategy where data is periodically replicated between AWS and Azure. This cross-cloud redundancy allows IT teams to maintain operational continuity even if one cloud provider experiences a compromise.

Securing Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Environments

Agencies are adopting hybrid and multi-cloud architectures to achieve flexibility and scalability, but these come with unique security challenges. Ensuring consistency in security policies and visibility across diverse platforms is paramount. Here are some security strengthening techniques:

• Centralized Policy Management: Use Infrastructure as Code (IaC) with tools like Terraform or Pulumi to deploy uniform security policies across environments. These tools allow for policy templates that can be updated and distributed consistently.
• Cloud-Agnostic Monitoring Solutions: Implement platforms such as Datadog, Splunk, or native solutions like Azure Monitor and AWS CloudWatch to provide a unified view of logs, metrics, and security alerts. This approach helps IT teams detect anomalies, regardless of where they occur.
• Interoperability Through Service Meshes: Integrate service mesh solutions like Istio or Linkerd to manage communication between microservices securely. These meshes provide end-to-end encryption and traffic management, enhancing overall control over data flow in hybrid setups.

Use Case: A government department that relies on both Azure GovCloud and an on-premises data center can use Anthos or Azure Arc to streamline policy application and visibility. By unifying data management, the department reduces blind spots that attackers might exploit.

Maintaining Compliance and Auditing Standards

Government IT operations are subject to strict security frameworks and compliance mandates such as NIST, FISMA, and FedRAMP. Adopting modern cybersecurity tools and practices must align with these regulations. Key compliance tactics:

• Continuous Compliance Monitoring: Deploy tools like Prisma Cloud or AWS Security Hub, which automatically assess cloud and container deployments against compliance standards.
• Audit-Ready Logging: Use centralized logging mechanisms that capture detailed records across hybrid environments. Fluentd or ELK stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana) can aggregate logs and generate reports that aid in audits.
• Conduct Regular Penetration Testing: Simulate real-world attacks on Kubernetes clusters and cloud resources. Red teaming exercises can uncover exploitable weaknesses in configurations and infrastructure.
• Agency IT Continuity of Operations Playbook: Regularly test disaster recovery plans by simulating the loss of a Kubernetes cluster. This helps ensure that backup procedures meet regulatory recovery requirements and demonstrates audit-readiness.

Planning for Proactive Government Cyber Resilience

Federal IT leaders must build systems that anticipate attacks, respond swiftly, and adapt to emerging threats. This requires comprehensive investment in cybersecurity training and continuous innovation. Private partnerships with forward looking agencies such as NASA, DIU, and APG have turned successful proof-of-concept data management pilots into quickly deployable software defined solutions that help us get and stay ahead of our adversaries. However, end-to-end data management, robust backup and recovery solutions, and effective hybrid and multi-cloud data management practices need to be standardized across federal government agencies. Here are some building blocks to use for increased resilience.

• Cybersecurity Drills: Run table-top exercises and blue team simulations to prepare teams for real attack scenarios.
• Leverage Shared Threat Intelligence: Partner with organizations like CISA and participate in threat intelligence sharing programs. Automated Indicator Sharing (AIS) allows agencies to receive up-to-date information on potential threats.
• Confidential Computing Initiatives: Explore the use of confidential computing to encrypt data even while it is being processed, adding a layer of protection against data exposure.
• Vision for the Future: Integrating technologies like AI-powered cybersecurity platforms will aid in predictive analytics, allowing IT teams to move from a reactive to a proactive stance.

Federal agencies must adapt quickly to secure their infrastructure against the backdrop of increasingly sophisticated threats. Embracing Kubernetes and multi-cloud security practices, ensuring backup resilience, and implementing continuous compliance checks are non-negotiable for protecting mission-critical data.

Unified Data Security, Resilience, and Portability with No Lock-in

Every federal, state and local government entity needs an updated, clearly defined last line of defense for data and applications that MUST SURVIVE FAILURE. Your last line of defense cannot be doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. Let’s face it — siloed legacy tools and platforms can’t offer government wide immutability, backup and instant recovery of hybrid multi-cloud workloads and Kubernetes containers.

Veeam’s data protection solution for government combines RedHat OpenShift (or any hypervisor), Veeam Kasten, and Veeam Data Platform into one easy-to-deploy solution for one affordable price. The solution gives IT teams visibility into and a last line of defense for data and applications anywhere and everywhere they live.

Take time now as we wind down this year, to review, test, and update your continuity of operations (COOP) plans. Ask us how your government agency can easily implement a future-proof last line of defense for mission continuity.