Amid heightened security threats, and the National Cyber Security Centre’s (NCSC) formal alert against cyber-attacks against UK critical national infrastructure, the government has unveiled GovAssure, a series of new cybersecurity measures to strengthen resiliency and bolster core IT systems. 

With the volume and complexity of cyber-attacks ever-growing, businesses are looking to regulators and the government to lead the cybersecurity charge. 

The Current Threat Landscape

The cybersecurity challenge has become increasingly difficult following the new work-from-anywhere regime, as highlighted by research from Absolute’s 2023 Resilience Index. 

In the UK, enterprise devices are logging on from over four different locations, up 15% year-on-year with increased device mobility opening up new vulnerabilities from potentially unsecured networks. This is compounded by the average device having 67 applications, with 10% having over 100 apps.

The threat surface for government organisations and businesses is higher than ever, presenting a challenge for IT teams looking to secure devices, networks, and applications from increasing volumes and sophistication of cyber threats.

Research also highlights that one in six Windows devices run on outdated operating systems. In fact, the government vertical is the highest risk as the highest patch age is 214 days. 

Security systems that are out of date — or worse, not even installed — pose a great challenge for IT staff building and maintaining a resilient cybersecurity posture.

Unpacking GovAssure

The crux of GovAssure is a regular, stringent review of IT systems from all government departments in order to increase the UK’s cyber resilience and protect the government’s essential IT functions.

Under the new regime, the Cabinet Office’s Government Security Group (GSG), the National Cyber Security Centre, and external third parties will conduct an annual review and stress testing of core government systems to measure their cyber resilience to new threat types. 

The review will include a review of cyber health to ensure systems are up to date and functioning as expected, following the NCSC’s Cyber Assessment Framework.

Regular assessments of security systems are essential in protecting against malicious threats. As research shows, 25 to 30% of enterprise devices have unhealthy security applications. 

When an attack occurs, unhealthy and out of date applications can severely restrict the prevention of cyber-attacks, leaving devices, networks, and ultimately the organisation susceptible to a costly breach. 

The government’s initiative to constantly monitor device health and assess its risk provides a valuable lesson for businesses to follow that can help stop breaches at source. At its core, the essence of GovAssure should be followed by all businesses.

Developing Resilient Cybersecurity

Constant monitoring and keeping device fleets up-to-patch is a core aspect of a resilient cybersecurity posture, fitting into prevention strategies for organisations alongside staff training and detection solutions. 

Having visibility over endpoints — especially with increasingly distributed workforces — is a key factor for IT teams to prevent inbounds threats, helping to identify suspicious activity and compromised devices or applications. This can be achieved through resilient Zero Trust.

Resilient Zero Trust monitors endpoint devices and their applications for suspicious activity, alerting centralised IT teams to potential security breaches based on atypical behaviour, providing them with the ability to remotely freeze or shut off devices to prevent threat actors moving laterally across a network and compromising more devices.

But prevention is only part of the solution. Major attacks against organisations such as NHS Digital have shown us that recovery must also form part of cyber strategies, with system issues lasting for months after the initial attack, not to mention the reputational, legal, and financial damage that organisations can potentially face.

Reacting through measures such as self-healing technologies can help organisations keep critical IT systems operational, repairing and recover devices and networks, restoring security systems to reduce downtime, and mitigate the risk of re-infection.

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Empowering Work-From-Anywhere

The ‘resilient’ aspect of Zero Trust is important to help keep staff online and staying productive, regardless of where they are working from. 

Where typical Zero Trust systems shut off devices and applications at the first sign of compromise, resilient Zero Trust monitors on a case-by-case basis. If a member of staff is logging in from another country while on a business trip, for example, the already notified IT team can allow the member of staff to stay online as while this is suspicious activity to security systems, it is expected by the organisation.

The latest work-from-anywhere workforce requires constant protection and constant visibility, and organisations should work to ensure their cyber strategies align with this working model, which has been and will continue to be a staple.

GovAssure highlights the importance of constantly re-evaluating and testing security systems to make sure that they are up to date and working as expected. Beyond that, businesses must add staff training and security controls as well as preventative and reactive measures to construct a truly resilient cyber posture.