From: FCW
By Frank Konkel
Big data is all around us. It’s helping fast-food chains and retailers keep customers happy, and it’s integral to the now very-public surveillance efforts employed by the intelligence community.
But for federal agencies, one of the most attractive uses of big data and the accompanying analytics it allows for may be in the realm of cyber defense.
While the cybersecurity measures most federal agencies employ continue to improve, statistics show an increasing prevalence of large-scale data breaches in the private sector that almost certainly translates to their government counterparts.
According to Bobby Caudill, global government program director for Teradata, new data suggests that if sophisticated outsiders – including a growing contingent of well-funded nation-state affiliated actors – want specific data, they will find a way to gain access to a system.
Instead of investing loads of money building better locks for protection, Caudill encouraged agencies to develop better alarms that use available data to determine when outsiders have gotten in.
“Big data analytics’ capabilities have constantly improved and gotten more effective,” said Caudill, speaking at an FCW cyber-security briefing Sept. 12 in Washington, D.C.
“We’ve got to look for ways to use data and analytics to recognize these things faster,” Caudill said. “The threat landscape is larger. It’s more lucrative now than it’s ever been.”
Caudill cited the banking and credit card industries as innovators in using analytics for improved fraud detection, and said the same analytics can help agencies detect threats and network intruders in near real-time.
The real-time aspect is huge, he said, because most companies and federal agencies aren’t aware of data breaches until months after they occur.
Leave a Reply