In the wake of last week’s shooting incident at a GOP baseball practice, the House Administration Committee plans to increase funding for members by $25,000 through the balance of 2017 to cover the cost of increased security. This is an important measure, given the increased presence of crowds – and protesters – at many political town halls and Republican events. However, the funding is earmarked for physical security, leaving the issue of cyber security largely unaddressed.
Earlier this month, an RNC contractor accidentally posted sensitive data to a web address, exposing it to anyone who happened across the site. Information about nearly 200 million potential voters could be accessed, viewed and downloaded without a password. The incident was not only embarrassing for the GOP, it illustrated a different kind of significant risk.
Protecting critical information, particularly legislative data, should be taken as seriously as protecting the lawmakers responsible for creating and managing it. Failure to do so puts the American system of government - and potentially lives - at risk. The consequences of not adequately protecting data in this context can range from political firestorm to significant national security breaches.
Vulnerability of political and legislative data will only increase as organizations utilize mobile and web platforms, maintain remote workforces and rely more and more on third parties. Meanwhile, in the high stakes political world, where political careers and party favorability can change overnight, there is less and less room for error.
Vaultize recognizes that these kinds of consequences exist not only within the political sphere, but extend to businesses and institutions. Adding technology and protocols that protect information should be standard operating procedure for every organization, regardless of size. Implementing solutions with more advanced capabilities, such as the ability to manage, track, and delete data in and outside of your network is even better. In fact, that may be what separates the winners from losers in business, or determines who keeps their job and who doesn’t.
Vaultize’s mission is to provide businesses and institutions with simple, transparent technology that protects every piece of data – regardless of where it travels.
As fears of leaks, whistleblowers, Russian hackers, and others with aims to influence or disrupt the US political system persist, lawmakers will come under increasing pressure to identify and close security holes.
It makes good, and common, sense that the GOP and other political organizations find and allocate budget for physical security as well as the right kind of data protection solutions. Just as it does for businesses who operate in similar high stakes environments.