Government shutdown could test security of data processes

October 3, 2013

Many agencies are working with a limited amount of staffers because of the recent government shutdown, but the priority of many of these organizations are to protect their information technology. Even though all of these departments have a contingency plan in place, it is going to be difficult to manage many servers with so little people, Computerworld reported.

At the Federal Trade Commission, six people will be in charge of managing the agency's infrastructure and telecommunication services. Other tasks include on-site administration support and backing up all documents. Any mishap would require a lot of lag time because of the lack of people to counter-attack possible invasions.

"I would expect that most of the infrastructure would be maintained by personnel who have been designated as essential, and that planning has taken place to ensure security remains a priority," RSA vice president Mike Brown told the news source. "However, any time there is an event like this, there is the potential for mistakes to take place."

The Social Security Administration and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs are among those that had to decide which employees were deemed essential during the shutdown. To protect assets during this vulnerable time, those in charge of these agencies decided to prioritize cyber security over other work-related matters.

Database management services is an around-the-clock project and can be difficult to oversee during these times. Businesses that need additional assistance in managing their document management programs can reach out to a business process provider.

Tab Service Company is a Chicago based company with over 53 years of experience as a data processing service provider.  We provide business with outsourcing solutions for document scanning services, data entry services and mailing/lettershop services.  As a SOC2-approved organization, we apply industry-best practices to our approach with clients.