The US Director of National Intelligence (DNI) earlier this month gave a stark warning to the Senate Armed Services Committee detailing the cyberthreats arrayed against the US and the world from China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran.

“The DNI's presentation should be a call to arms for all security teams in the public and private sectors, hopefully spurring each to take a hard look at their preparedness level using all the methods at their disposal, including external resources,” said Trustwave Government Solutions President Bill Rucker.

The DNI's insights were contained in that office's Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community covering issues ranging from China's cyberespionage efforts to Russia's continuing attempts to strike critical infrastructure. The threats are severe and potential outcomes devastating if successful.

The report noted Russian efforts include targeting underwater cables and industrial control systems, in the US, as well as, in allied and partner countries, even while focusing the majority of its attention on Ukraine.

"China remains the most active and persistent cyber threat to US Government, private-sector, and critical infrastructure networks. Beijing's cyber espionage pursuits and its industry's export of surveillance, information, and communications technologies increase the threats of aggressive cyber operations against the United States and the suppression of the free flow of information in cyberspace", the 41-page document noted.

At the same time, the DNI report said Iran’s growing expertise and willingness to conduct aggressive cyber operations make it a major threat to the security of U.S. and allied and partner networks and data and specifically called out how that nation attempted to influence the 2020 US presidential election. North Korea is expected to continue its ongoing cyber campaign, particularly cryptocurrency heists, and continue a broad variety of methods to launder and cash out stolen cryptocurrency.

These threats mean the US, its allies, and the private sector that operates the majority of critical infrastructure facilities must ensure all aspects of their operations are secure, including the databases where essential information is housed.

How Trustwave Can Help

Trustwave believes in an offensive and defensive approach to securing their clients' data.

The largest categories of threat vectors use lax password management in addition to ineffective patching practices. Trustwave DbProtect is a comprehensive database security solution designed to proactively highlight sensitive data locations along with the most toxic combinations of potential threat vectors. This actionable insight allows immediate lockdown using security access controls and prioritizing elements of the vulnerability management lifecycle.

Complementary to DbProtect for running a proactive data security program, with Offensive security potential attackers' tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) are emulated to identify and remediate vulnerabilities before a threat actor can exploit them. It's not about attacking; it's about testing defenses in a controlled manner to strengthen the security posture, generally through penetration tests and Red Team exercises

As organizations’ weak points are detected, Trustwave can add to and refine controls that are part of DbProtect’s security policies.

Partnering with Trustwave enables businesses to enhance their cyber resilience and protect their assets and reputation. Investing in robust database security isn't just advisable—it's imperative in today's threat landscape.

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