In today’s digital age, law enforcement agencies are using technology to improve effectiveness, reduce costs and better serve their public safety mission. From the data systems that permit inter-agency collaboration, to the networked cameras and sensors protecting the U.S. border, digital technology is both ubiquitous and indispensable. However, the reliance on internet technology also opens up vulnerabilities that cyber threat actors can exploit. Harmful cyberattacks on law enforcement agencies are the result. In particular, agency networks have an unmanageably large attack surface and discoverable digital internet presence. Savvy adversaries use ubiquitous technical surveillance (UTS) tactics and exploit this exposure. They aim to steal data, disrupt services or otherwise interfere with law enforcement systems and personnel.
The Cyber Threats to Law Enforcement
Threat actors profiles vary. Some are political activists, and some are purely economically motivated cyber criminals. Still more dangerous are foreign intelligence actors and Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs), which are highly sophisticated and nefarious. The most prominent TCOs engage aggressively in drug trafficking, exploiting the vulnerabilities of law enforcement to further their illicit activities. These groups launch sophisticated cyberattacks in an attempt to penetrate network systems, steal official and personal information and cripple law enforcement capabilities.
These criminal adversaries often target external-facing network services. These exposed elements of an agency’s network attack surface, at large scale, are difficult to protect. Hackers use tactics such as DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks, which can temporarily disable key services. Or they attempt to gain initial access to steal data or deploy malicious software to compromise law enforcement systems.
Threat actors target other reconnaissance or intrusion attempts directly at law enforcement agency employees. In these cases, the threat actors are seeking to steal identity, access credentials, or other personal information. These sophisticated and relentless attacks pose significant challenges to law enforcement effectiveness.
Ubiquitous Technical Surveillance (UTS) Threats
The observability of law enforcement digital activity presents yet further security vulnerability. Ubiquitous Technical Surveillance, which is defined as constant collection and permanent storage of data and activities gathered from internet tracking, social media, network logs, camera feeds, GPS, credit card payments and hundreds of other sources. Using AI, hackers can analyze this data to recreate a narrative of past events, or predict future activities. Online traffic generated by official agency activity, as well as the personal activities of agency employees, creates a visible footprint that threat actors can exploit.
In this UTS environment, adversaries continuously monitor law enforcement digital activity to identify patterns that offer surprisingly strong indications of plans and operations. They can pinpoint digital signatures at the device and personnel level, allowing for tracking, interference or obstruction of signals from individual operatives. Hackers can gather data from these personal devices that reveals location and movements that expose confidential tactical maneuvers to the adversary.
Negative Consequences of Cyberattacks on Law Enforcement
These exposures create severe negative effects on law enforcement activities, personnel and public safety. Leaks of sensitive information can tip off adversaries to tactical initiatives, or expose the identity and personal details of law enforcement personnel or confidential informants. Identity or data breaches relating to personnel or informants could endanger their lives.
Sometimes disruption is all that is required to cause harm. When hackers block signals or interrupt sensor data, the degradation of communications obstructs the flow of information and intelligence. This impairs decision-making and the ability to transport essential personnel and equipment to locations where they are most needed. Operational functions such as dispatching, emergency alert systems, event tracking, infrastructure monitoring, alerts and intelligence sharing are all highly dependent on unobstructed internet access and data transport.
SecureCo Provides Protection for Law Enforcement
To address these cyberattacks on law enforcement, SecureCo offers advanced and highly tailored data transport and endpoint protection solutions. Our solutions provide two overarching benefits. First, they use obfuscation methods to protect the continuity and integrity of agency communications. Secondly, they dramatically reduce endpoint exposure to protect networks and devices against reconnaissance, DDoS and penetration attacks.
SecureCo is at the forefront of using obfuscation to protect networks, applications and communications. Obfuscation technologies use stealth, misdirection and digital camouflage to make critical systems less exposed to observation and exploitation. By hiding critical data and system components, SecureCo makes it harder for threat actors to identify and exploit vulnerabilities in law enforcement systems, thereby enhancing their overall security posture.
Law enforcement use cases include:
- Protecting encrypted communications from interference, interception or obstruction.
- Shielding externally facing network endpoints such as APIs from discovery and attack, and protecting data transit.
- Hardening IoT networks to prevent disruption of sensor data feeds and to protect devices from compromise.
SecureCo Stealth & Obfuscation Tactics
SecureCo technology is installed on network endpoints and the devices that interact with them. Our solutions route data in a far more secure way than if protected by encryption alone. SecureCo enabled connection circuits are less discoverable to threat actors, and the internet-exposed servers no longer require discoverable open ports, which are normally a significant source of vulnerability.
SecureCo uses several novel and battle-tested stealth and obfuscation tactics to reduce attack surface, promote privacy and confidentiality, and assure continuity:
- Our mesh delivery network spans cloud providers and regions to deliver high availability and performance.
- The patented rendezvous connection methodology reduces endpoint exposure to protect networks against reconnaissance, DDoS and penetration attacks.
- Layered stealth tactics thwart traffic analysis and network reconnaissance, and frustrate man-in-the-middle and DDoS attacks.
- Anonymization of data eliminates source and destination attribution and protects against UTS threats such as identity leakage and signature discovery.
The Benefits of SecureCo to Law Enforcement Agencies
The benefits of SecureCo’s obfuscation tactics are many. Overall, obfuscation increases the resilience of law enforcement systems by making it more challenging for threat actors to execute successful attacks on systems devices or individuals. In conjunction with a modern cybersecurity stack, obfuscation enhances the overall confidentiality and integrity of law enforcement data communications, ensuring that the flow of critical information remains protected, and operations are free from disruptions.
- Eliminating metadata leakage preserves privacy of identity, location and communications.
- Protected data transport provides robust resistance to eavesdropping, interference or obstruction
- Hidden endpoints protect against discovery, disruption or exploitation of critical systems
Easy to Deploy and Manage, With High Performance and Visibility
SecureCo designed its cybersecurity solutions to be easy to deploy and manage, with high performance and low latency. With intuitive interfaces and robust monitoring capabilities, law enforcement agencies can gain visibility into their digital environments and manage connection policies in real time. This proactive approach to cybersecurity allows law enforcement to stay one step ahead of cyber adversaries to safeguard operations.
SecureCo implementation is optimized to minimize administrative effort:
- Network security applications can operate on virtual or physical servers deployed and configured via CI/CD.
- Client apps delivered via app stores or MDMs.
- IoT is supported by our lightweight software agent compatible with embedded systems and network appliances.
- Custom application integrations build on our mobility SDK.
Explore How SecureCo Can Protect Your Law Enforcement Agency
In conclusion, the ever evolving cyberattacks on law enforcement agencies pose significant challenges that require innovative cybersecurity countermeasures. The vulnerability that law enforcement agencies suffer stems in part from the vast scale of their network attack surface and discoverable digital activity. However, these challenges can be successfully mitigated, even in an ubiquitous technical surveillance environment. By leveraging obfuscation tactics like those offered by SecureCo, law enforcement agencies can minimize their exposure and reduce the risk of downtime, operational impairment, data breach and personnel endangerment.
To learn more about SecureCo’s cybersecurity solutions and how they can benefit your organization, reach out for a discovery consultation and capabilities demonstration. SecureCo also offers easy to deploy software PoCs, permitting a hands-on assessment of the security features, plus the ease of implementation, low cost of ownership, and impressive network performance.
Request a demo to see how our combination of proprietary and battle-tested obfuscation techniques can solve your security challenges.
