US Govt sites ripe for attack amid #shutdown

The diminished work presence in the public sector as a result of the ongoing first US Government shutdown in 17 years could elevate IT security risks.

More than 800,000 US Government workers have been forced to take furlough days while the House, Senate and White House work towards an agreement on government spending.

LockPath senior solutions engineer Larry Slobodzian said the shutdown was a good time for attackers to strike.

“I would think that the quieter, more sophisticated attacks are going to be more prevalent because you will have less eyes monitoring [operations],” Slobodzian said.

He added that, depending on how long the shutdown continues, workers could miss necessary software patches or system updates."

In addition to exploiting vulnerable assets, security experts warned that saboteurs may go for the human target, leveraging social engineering tactics to infiltrate organisations.

RSA governance, risk and compliance strategist Patrick Potter said phishing attacks may be on the rise.

“People will really have to be careful of the ‘organisations' they are approached by,”  Potter said.