8 tips for better security on a tight budget

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

CISOs must develop strategies to cope with limited, or even reduced, funding in the face of evolving threats and continuing regulatory and legislative mandates.

There is little argument nowadays over the importance of cybersecurity within the federal government. Nevertheless, chief information security officers rarely have all the funding they need for the products and services necessary to provide mature cybersecurity programs.

Consequently, CISOs must develop strategies to cope with limited, or even reduced, funding in the face of evolving threats and continuing regulatory and legislative mandates. CISOs should consider the following approaches for keeping agency information secure when resources are tight.

(Listen to an (ISC)2 podcast on doing more with less here.)

1. Increase efficiency.

Declining resources bring the need to increase efficiency in security processes sharply into focus. The CISO should strive to develop and document processes such as reporting under the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), Plan of Action and Milestones tracking, vulnerability scanning and controls testing to maximize efficient performance. This could save money through automation, which can reduce the labor involved in task completion, or allow you to employ less-skilled personnel. Obviously, integration of security-related processes into the system development life cycle is another highly effective way to efficiently implement security. Additionally, increasing the efficiency of processes may permit modification of existing services and contracts to permit their performance by less-skilled, but more affordable, personnel.

2. Educate yourself on the budget process.

The CISO will be well served to have a ready knowledge of the budget formulation process and schedule, and employ trained personnel to monitor and track budget submissions. The ability to respond on short notice to funding opportunities as they arise is of paramount importance, especially at the end of the fiscal year. The CISO should strive to establish a close working relationship with the chief financial officer and the CIO to ensure that cybersecurity funding requirements and priorities are both articulated and understood.

3. Evaluate the budget.

When funding is tight, the CISO must review his or her cybersecurity program budget from the perspective of the agency mission and strategic plan using risk management principles. This will ensure the budget is used to procure products and services that support mission-critical efforts. The CISO must scrub the existing budget to validate each of his or her initiatives and each purchase according to cybersecurity program priorities, and know how each dollar helps achieve those objectives.

4. Plan for funding shortfalls.

Irrespective of the urgency or criticality of agency cybersecurity requirements, the CISO must adhere to the agency’s budget formulation cycle. In other words, funding is not always available when it is most needed. Consequently, the CISO must document and prioritize unfunded requirements as a contingency when funding becomes available. The CISO should also understand that the CFO will require assurance of expedited obligation of this type of funding.

5. Consider funding alternatives.

The information security function in government agencies provides services to its customers in the form of compliance and oversight activities, controls assessments and testing, planning services, vulnerability scanning and the like. When funding is at a premium, CISOs might consider cost reimbursement for any services they render to system owners and their other customers. The CISO can remind system owners of the provisions of FISMA and their responsibility for securing the information systems they own. Additionally, it may be possible to convince managers of other organizational elements to provide funding for particular cybersecurity needs. Necessary security solutions that support the enterprise may belong to the IT operations organization, which might be persuaded to assume responsibility for their purchase and implementation.

6. Emphasize common controls.

The CISO should seek to maximize the use of common controls such as secure configurations for all IT items purchased before deployment across the agency to reduce implementation costs, as well as to reduce the time and effort required for their documentation, monitoring and assessment for effectiveness.

7. Engage management.

Effective management support is crucial in a tight budget environment. The CISO must ensure that the agency head, CIO and other senior executives are aware of the impact of limited funding on the cybersecurity program and, in particular, how it will affect the management of risks to agency information and information systems. From the CISOs’ perspective, there is always much to be done to develop, implement and maintain an enterprise information risk management program — and they must do everything in their power to ensure that senior management perception of risks matches their own.

8. Retain cybersecurity personnel.

Because reduced budgets are often accompanied by hiring freezes, CISOs must work hard to retain cybersecurity professionals who may be tempted to seek employment elsewhere. Alternative work schedules and work locations, including telework from other geographical regions, should be considered to enhance employee job satisfaction. Additionally, CISOs could benefit from personnel assigned to other agency offices by means of details and informal rotational assignments. If hiring is restricted, the use of contractor personnel to fill vacancies can also help the CISO maintain critical capabilities.

Today, operating with constrained resources has become a way of life for government CISOs. No matter how important cybersecurity is to an organization, consistent management support is not guaranteed, and prior-year budget levels cannot be assumed. CISOs must prepare themselves for doing more with less in the face of increasing cyber threats through the application of practical approaches within an enterprise information risk management framework.



X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.