The importance of data security for government agencies

The Importance of data Security for government agencies

Just a few days ago, the city of Riviera Beach agreed to pay nearly $600,000 worth of ransom to regain access to their own data, which had been walled off due to an attack on the city’s computer systems. This is just one of the many ransomware attacks that have resulted in huge payouts from government agencies, and is an important lesson for any organizations who have yet to commit to antivirus and backup solutions. That’s where Genesis Technologies Inc. comes in.

The Prevalence of cybercrime

In the past two years, more than 50 U.S. cities have been hit by ransomware, and in Atlanta, a recent attack cost the city nearly $17 million, Vice News reported. And in a study done by Fast Facts, the U.S. ranked first as the most threatened country, accounting for 11.06% of all ransomware attacks globally. In that same report, researchers found that, between January 2016 and March 2019, the number of such threats exceeded 1.8 billion.

In a similar report, Symantec, creators of the industry leading anti-virus software, reported that only 38% of organizations globally claimed to be prepared for a cyber-attack. And, what’s worse, an estimate 54% of companies claim they have experienced one or more attacks in the past 12 months.

What can government agencies do to protect themselves?

Thankfully, many anti-virus and backup solution manufacturers understand that government agencies need to be strict about their funding. As such, they offer government discounts on their most popular data security items. Of those solutions, these are the most popular:

Symantec Endpoint Protection, a globally-renowned anti-virus software, offers security against all known attack vectors with unrivaled efficacy, cyber defense at scale delivered by one single agent, and high-performance client/on-premises management architecture. And with its advanced machine learning, Symantec Endpoint Protection can stop unknown threats with minimal false positives.

Veritas Backup Exec is a flexible backup solution that can fit any environment. You choose what to back up, where to store it and how to pay for it. Your data remains secure and available at every stage—whether backing up on-premises to the cloud, protecting workloads within the cloud, recovering from the cloud or connecting to on-prem storage.

Where can government agencies purchase data security software?

Here at Genesis Technologies, we’re an authorized government reseller, meaning we have access to all government discounted items from both Veritas and Symantec. Whether you want to take care of your backup solution or get your organization outfitted with anti-virus software, Genesis Technologies has you covered.

Ready to get started? Looking for a price quote? Head over to our government section to view all our non-profit product manufacturers or call our office at 800-433-6326.