DOD Use Case
Secure Your Disaster Recovery Response
The Best Defense is a Good Offense
In the ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape, the United States Department of Defense (DOD) finds itself at the forefront of addressing some of the most complex and critical challenges to ensure national security. with digital threats becoming increasingly sophisticated, the DOD’s cybersecurity strategies and concerns must adapt accordingly. As part of its efforts to bolster defense mechanisms, the DOD has placed significant emphasis on zero trust, data integrity, and the chain of custody.
Zero Trust
The zero trust model operates under the principle that threats can originate from anywhere. Therefore, no entity (user or system) should be trusted by default, even if they are within the network. This approach requires continuous verification of the security posture of all devices, users, and systems attempting to access resources within the DOD’s networks. Zero trust is critical for the DOD but comes with additional concerns.
Complex Implementation
Adopting a zero-trust architecture requires significant changes in how the DOD’s networks are designed and operated. This includes deploying new technologies, rewriting access policies, and retraining personnel. The complexity and scale of DOD networks make this a daunting task, and there are concerns about disrupting mission-critical operations during the transition.
Insider Threats
While zero trust is partly aimed at mitigating insider threats, the very nature of these threats poses a significant concern. By virtue of their access and knowledge of the DOD’s systems, insiders can potentially exploit zero trust controls or find ways to circumvent them. Continuous monitoring and sophisticated behavioral analytics are required to address this, raising concerns about privacy and managing false positives.
Emerging Technologies and Threats
The rapid pace of technological evolution and the emergence of new threats pose a challenge to maintaining an effective zero-trust posture. The DOD must constantly update its defenses against novel attack vectors, including AI-driven attacks, which could potentially automate the discovery and exploitation of zero-trust vulnerabilities.
Zero Trust, The Walacor Way
Walacor’s zero-trust-focused approach revolutionizes secure data storage. Zero-trust architecture leverages a Master User Record (MUR). Using Walacor as your MUR source means your source of truth is protected by our auditable, transparent ledger. Using Walacor as the repository for behavior logs provides a trusted source on which all other Zero-trust components can base their decisions. With always-on, 100% data audit capabilities that provide a comprehensive and tamper-resistant history, attackers can’t hide, always leaving behind virtual footprints of their activities.
Data Integrity
Data integrity, the accuracy and stability of data throughout its lifecycle, is paramount for the DOD. Decisions are often made based on the data collected from various sources, including intelligence operations, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions. Any tampering or unauthorized modification of data could lead to incorrect decision-making, potentially jeopardizing missions and putting lives at risk. Thus, the DOD invests in robust security measures to protect data integrity, employing encryption, access controls, and rigorous authentication methods. There are some particular areas of concern regarding data integrity as well:
Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs)
APTs represent a significant concern for data integrity. These threats involve sophisticated adversaries engaging in long-term espionage or sabotage operations. They might subtly alter data rather than simply steal or encrypt it, which can have long-term strategic implications for national security.
Supply Chain Attacks
The DOD relies on a complex global supply chain for its hardware, software, and services. Supply chain attacks can compromise the integrity of these components before they are even deployed, making it challenging to ensure that data processed or stored by these components has not been tampered with.
Information Warfare
In the context of information warfare, adversaries might seek to compromise the integrity of information used by the DOD for strategic decision-making. This could involve manipulating intelligence data, operational plans, or even public perception through disinformation campaigns, posing a direct threat to national security.
Data Integrity with Walacor
With Walacor, what you put in is what you get out—without the risk of internal or external attacks. Dynamically derived, NIST-level unique symmetric encryption keys are deployed at the per-item level, managing data security at the lowest level. By getting data into the Walacor secure platform early in its lifecycle, the DoD can guarantee the integrity of its data from the start.
Chain of Custody
The chain of custody in cybersecurity refers to the maintenance and handling of digital evidence to ensure its integrity from collection to consumption in a court of law or for internal investigations. Maintaining a secure and verifiable chain of custody for digital assets and evidence is crucial for the DOD. This involves tracking who has modified what data and ensuring that any actions taken can be audited and verified. This is particularly important in cyber operations, where evidence may be required for attributing cyber attacks to specific actors or for legal proceedings. Additional concerns related to chain of custody include:
Digital Evidence Management
As cyber operations and digital evidence become increasingly central to military and legal proceedings, maintaining an unbroken chain of custody for digital assets becomes critical. There is a concern that someone could exploit gaps or uncertainties in the chain of custody to challenge the validity of evidence in court or during investigations.
Complex Digital Environments
The complexity of digital environments and the volume of data collected from various sources, including IoT devices, satellites, and cyber operations, complicate the management of the chain of custody. Ensuring that all digital evidence is accurately logged, securely secured, and remains unaltered during transfer and analysis requires sophisticated management systems and rigorous protocols.
International Cooperation and Jurisdictional Issues
Cyber operations often span multiple jurisdictions, raising concerns about the chain of custody when dealing with international partners or when evidence must be shared across borders. Legal and procedural differences can complicate digital evidence management, potentially undermining collaborative efforts to address cybersecurity threats.
Confirm your Chain of Custody with Walacor
Accurate, trustworthy, secure data is essential. By tracking the provenance of every change made to data, companies can detect unintentional or malicious manipulation, prevent fraud, and demonstrate compliance with regulatory requirements. With Walacor’s guaranteed audit log, the DOD can ensure all sensitive information submitted has not been altered or deleted, which is essential for critical decision workflows.
