Essential Cyber Security Practices for Government Effectiveness

Ronald Reagan once famously said: "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'" Inside the government itself, the most terrifying words in the English language may be: "The information security office is here to facilitate your office's goals and objectives."

So says a new book, Larstan's The Black Book on Government Security (publication date October 2006), intended to introduce managers and IS professionals to the key cyber security challenges faced by all levels of government. The book notes that while awareness of the importance of cyber security is growing at all levels of government, awareness is one thing; action another. One of government's biggest challenges is to transition from a general awareness of cyber security to concrete implementation of good cyber security practices. Ensuring cyber security issues are championed by leadership, embraced by business managers, implemented by users and understood by all is like herding cats, it says, especially when cyber threats are very difficult to understand.