Tag: public sector

Citizen confidence in government institutions and public servants depends on trust. Citizens need to trust that the individuals and agencies representing them will act in good faith to protect their interests. Whether it’s the safety of food, medications, infrastructure, information, or national security, the sustainability of the social contract between the government and its constituents requires persistent attention to retain the public’s trust.

For governments to function, the flow of data on a massive scale is required—including sensitive information about critical infrastructure, public safety, and security. The higher the stakes in data sensitivity, the more attractive the information is to malefactors for reasons that range from financial gain to political influence. It should come as no surprise that the security of government information systems is subject to constant attempted attacks.

Until recently, the prevailing paradigm for system security was to protect the perimeter—that is, protect the network’s entry and exit points, typically through firewalls or virtual private networks (VPNs). This model is built on implicit trust that access is legitimate by default for anyone inside the perimeter. The basis for this implicit trust in traditional network security is becoming obsolete in the wake of changes such as the expansion of the mobile workforce, the rapid growth in digital data, the proliferation of shadow IT, and the rise of cyberattacks. Today, more and more organizations are pivoting to a Zero Trust model for security where all users and devices—both inside and outside the network—are deemed untrustworthy by default and the same security checks are applied to all users, devices, applications, and data.

Security considerations for government institutions

Consider the information needed by social workers employed by a child protection agency to do their job promoting the safety and development of at-risk children, some of the most vulnerable citizens in society. To screen a child for investigation requires judgment based on quality information. To take a child into protective custody requires even more exacting discernment. Before a court makes a final decision to remove a child from their family, multiple professionals from various agencies need to conclude there’s reasonable cause to believe that the health, safety, or welfare of the child is at risk. In order to make these important decisions, the stakeholders need appropriate access to the relevant information across functions and agencies. And they need to coordinate with each other.

A social worker may be a civil servant or a contractor using an agency-supplied device or a personal phone. They may be inspecting environments where children live or go to school, or they may be taking information from healthcare providers or law enforcement. The range of information they interact with is diverse and extensive, and its transmission across relevant agencies is made more complex by compliance standards pertaining to data protection and privacy.

Some questions governments ask themselves to support the free and trusted flow of information to empower social workers include:

• What data do social workers need to do their jobs?
• Should access to relevant sensitive information apply at all times, or would it be appropriate to impose time limits?
• What information is safe to store on personal devices—for example, photos that are relevant to the case?
• What to do if the identity or the device of a social worker becomes infected through malware?

This can potentially wreak havoc on data privacy or the safety of the vulnerable population they are trying to serve and could open the agency up to civil liability if not properly protected.

Given these questions and the complexity of cybersecurity concerns and data privacy, it’s hard to justify an approach that is premised on implicit trust and unfettered access to sensitive data. In addition to trust considerations, public sector organizations also need to enable productivity and collaboration. Striking the right balance between productivity and security need not be all or nothing.

The Zero Trust model

The Zero Trust security model adheres to three pillars:

1. Explicit verification of every access request.
2. Use of least privileged access with just-in-time adaptive risk-based access policies.
3. Assume breach mentality to minimize potential damage to, or loss of data from, additional parts of the organization.

In our example, all information requests would be treated as though they originate from an uncontrolled (external or compromised) network. But this need not impede the social worker’s productivity. With the right governance, social workers can and should have access to the relevant information. Governing parameters might include restricting access to information about non-clients. Another parameter may be to set access expiration dates, or determine which devices are eligible for access. If a device or an agency worker’s identity becomes compromised, their access can be mediated by identity management or data governance rules that enable productivity while being mindful of security.

For an agency to retain its commitment to the constituents it serves and uphold data privacy standards, implicit trust within a data estate no longer makes sense. An end-to-end Zero Trust approach aims to build security into the entire digital estate, across your identities (usernames and passwords), devices, network, infrastructure, applications, and data.

Microsoft 365 helps governments on the Zero Trust journey

With Microsoft 365, governments can take immediate steps towards a Zero Trust security model. The first step in building a secure environment is explicit verification of identity. Phishing is one of the most common types of cyberattacks. It can lead to a user’s credentials being compromised and opens the doors for attackers to steal valuable information. Sensitive data may be what cybercriminals want, but an identity breach is often the preferred tactic to get to the data. Protecting identity and managing access is therefore a pivotal first step in a cybersecurity strategy. This is because identity can act as the new control plane that connects all the organization’s data dispersed across multiple applications, on-premises and in the cloud, and accessed by multiple devices and users.

Getting identity management right is a defensive imperative and it can enable an organization to save time and resources. Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) is a powerful identity management solution that helps modernize access management and provide end-to-end visibility across the entire digital estate by connecting all applications and services to a single control plane. This is key to implementing a Zero Trust model because setting policies to define the right user experience at each access request ensures users are allowed the least privileged access necessary to perform their role. With Azure AD, organizations can also deploy a variety of passwordless authentication solutions from Windows Hello to FIDO 2.0 keys, further strengthening their access security.

Another pillar of the Zero Trust model is the principle that policies define how devices are used in the workplace; this is important as employees increasingly use their own devices at work. Under Zero Trust, the “health” of the device is a gating variable for access policies. With Microsoft Intune, mobile application management and mobile device management (MDM), part of the new Microsoft Endpoint Manager platform, organizations can verify and make the health of the device a precondition to access data. MDM enables comprehensive remote management of mobile devices, including remote data wipe if needed.

The final pillar of Zero Trust addresses the need to govern access by network to prevent lateral movement in the event of a breach. Microsoft 365 offers many services to help monitor and detect threats and protect sensitive data:

• Microsoft Cloud App Security detects unusual behavior across Microsoft and third-party cloud apps. It can identify high risk usage and remediate automatically to limit risk to an organization.
• Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) provides continuous, real-time detonation capabilities to find and block threats, including malicious email links and attachments.
• Microsoft Defender ATP protects endpoints in real-time by detecting and responding to threats.
• Azure ATP detects risky and suspicious user activities and generates alerts.
• Azure Information Protection provides controls to help secure email, documents, and sensitive data no matter where it’s stored or whom it’s shared with.

What makes Microsoft unique is the native integration of all these services allowing for holistic security management across each of the Zero Trust pillars, resulting in an orchestrated response to protect agencies’ digital estates end-to-end. This also serves to simplify the Zero Trust journey by eliminating the complexity of trying to make multiple different cybersecurity solutions work together that were not designed to integrate with one another.

Microsoft services are enhanced by the powerful insights captured by the Microsoft Intelligent Security Graph—the centerpiece of Microsoft’s differentiation in cybersecurity—which reasons over more than 8 trillion security signals from 1.2 billion end points and hundreds of millions of identity, email, and document transactions. Microsoft employs unique human and artificial intelligence (AI) to make sense of these vast and complex cybersecurity signals to connect the dots to find the signal in the noise.

Learn more

Cyberattacks are becoming more frequent, better organized, and increasingly sophisticated. Governments recognize the seriousness of these concerns and are searching for solutions to update their security posture in the new cybersecurity era with limited budgets and insufficient skills.

Microsoft 365 provides best-in-class productivity apps while protecting identities, devices, applications, networks, and data. With Microsoft 365 security services, governments can take confident steps in the direction of a modern, Zero Trust security environment.

Learn more about Zero Trust and Microsoft 365 and government. Also, see how Microsoft Security solutions can support your journey.

Promote citizen well-being, influence positive societal change, and enhance your government services

Exponential change is happening in the world around us and within governments. This change is being driven by one core idea, expectations of governments are changing. Modern technology is causing a shift in societal behavior. Citizens and residents expect their governments to adapt to the ways in which companies interact with their customers. They expect to be able to access services quickly, efficiently, and in any location that is convenient for them.

From the thousands of digital transformation journeys Microsoft has taken with local, regional, and national governments around the globe, we’ve learned that governments are constantly having to juggle this shift while managing a variety of challenges both internal and external. How do we provide quality services to our citizens as budgets either remain flat or are reduced? How do we address major societal problems such as aging and retiring workforces and education and labor gaps? How do we connect agencies across cities, regions, and borders, while making sure our data, and more importantly our citizen’s data, is secure? And how do we keep our citizens, communities, and countries safe and protected?

That juggling act can be exhausting, confusing, and overwhelming, but it can also be exciting. Government organizations have the ability to become more efficient and to better optimize existing resources leveraging modern technology, to deeply connect with citizens in powerful ways, and to empower government employees to be more efficient and effective and give them time back to focus on their agency mission.

Governments are changing, adapting, and evolving, just like the world around us. And while the challenges are real, so are the opportunities. Addressing the challenges governments are facing can be tied back to three, core ideas:

1. Engage and connect with citizens. Citizen engagement is core to every government’s mission. Today’s citizens want to have access to government services 24/7/365 on their terms and when convenient to them.
2. Modernize the government workplace. Governments must provide their employees with the tools they need to do their jobs as efficiently, and as securely as possible. This is where governments can address things like labor and re-skilling gaps and promote safety and security.
3. Enhance government services. Governments are constantly under pressure to become more efficient, which means finding ways to optimize their operations and transform their processes. It’s here that governments can connect those siloed legacy systems and utilize innovative applications such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and machine learning.

These three ideas make up the heart of digital transformation of governments. At Microsoft, we are committed to helping governments through a variety of transformational journeys, as seen with our customers such as City of Los Angeles, Department of Health, Ministry of Public Health Thailand, State Court Justice of Sao Paulo, Belgian Federal Police, Alaska Department of Transportation, and Missouri Department of Conservation.

To learn more, watch this new short video and see how Microsoft helps governments meet their mission and serve citizens better.

When governments offer their citizens quality digital experiences, they can expect to see levels of trust rise by as much as 58 percent.

But, with most governments dealing with outdated technology infrastructures, ever-shrinking budgets, and long-established but inefficient processes, this can be a difficult aim to achieve.

When government organizations build roadmaps for digital transformation, it’s easy to just focus on the obvious wins—such as operational improvements and cost saving—but in doing so, many miss a key opportunity to enhance citizen engagement. If you’re planning your own path to transformation, you need to consider the evolving needs of your citizens, in addition to the government’s.

The journey to citizen-first digital cities

Take the city of Tel Aviv.

One of the early pioneers of citizen-focused digital transformation, the Israeli city worked with Microsoft on its DigiTel initiative to boost communication between the government and citizens while bringing them a broader range of digital services.

Tel Aviv already offered a wealth of digital services through its website—but it wanted to expand the scope and convenience. So, it created the DigiTel app, which uses location-based personalization to deliver real-time information to its citizens, such as transport timetables, nearby restaurants, and parking availability.

The app also offers citizens an easier way to get involved with municipal issues and improve their neighborhoods. Say someone spots a pothole on their street, for example—using the DigiTel app, they can take a photo and share it directly with the people who can get it fixed. The city can also seek citizens’ input on projects such as new developments and education plans, encouraging them to become stakeholders in the city.

The goal of the program is to bring services to the people, rather than making them seek out support. “We want to make it as easy as possible to interact with the city,” says Liora Shechter, Tel Aviv’s CTO. “So, with every project we develop, we try to go the extra mile and develop the most friendly, intuitive, and useful service for people.”

How to build your own smart city

If you’re one of the thousands of governments that are steeped in aging technologies, take the first step toward citizen-focused transformation by assessing your current infrastructure and making a plan to improve it in ways that prioritize civic engagement. In Tel Aviv, that meant moving some of its key assets off premises and into the Microsoft cloud.

But for your government, this journey will likely look slightly—or vastly—different. It’s all about finding the technologies and strategies that suit you and your citizens’ needs.

So, ask yourself, what does progress look like for your city?

We’ve put together a fast, easy assessment to help you understand your government’s digital maturity—and give you some pointers for what your roadmap should look like. Simply answer five questions, and we’ll help you take stock of where you are on your transformation journey, and where you should head next.

Take the assessment now.

By Ben Rudolph, Managing Director of Modern Journalism, Microsoft Corporate HQ

This morning, in collaboration with Microsoft, POLITICO Europe launched a new Elections hub to report on the upcoming 2019 European Parliamentary elections. One of the key features of the hub is a stunning interactive data visualization – built with Microsoft Power BI.

The team at POLITICO Europe, already recognized as the #1 most influential publication on European affairs for two of the three years since it launched, seeks to bring an unprecedented degree of education and insight to the European electorate as they navigate the complicated election process, which spans thousands of candidates and hundreds of parties across the EU’s 27 member nations. The nonpartisan organization considers itself to have a critical responsibility to all European citizens as they consider the candidates for which they will vote, and knows it will be important to continue to be at the forefront of innovation. POLITICO Europe’s leaders worked with Microsoft to envision new ways of reporting likely outcomes of the election, and break down complex issues like coalition building, to show individual voters the impact of their vote, and draw new participants into the democratic process.

At Microsoft, we are thrilled to engage with POLITICO Europe and deliver on our commitment to empower the news industry to discover and tell impactful stories. Together we are using technology to deliver on POLITICO’s mission and expertise in connecting the dots between EU and member states, making politics more accessible and transparent.

“Visualizing the election will make it a more meaningful event for our readers, showing them during nine months where the election is headed, and how they compare to their neighbors,” said Ryan Heath, Political Editor at POLITICO, leading this project for the newsroom. “We’re encouraging readers to adopt a new way of thinking about the European Union, one where we all see beyond our borders, and want to match this new way of thinking with new ways of discovering and exploring the latest news and facts at a personal level.”

POLITICO Europe readers can explore a detailed, graphical, interactive view of the projected makeup of the 9^th European Parliament in a way that has never previously been possible. Currently based on the latest results of national polls, the visualization will update with live election results on May 23-26, 2019, as those actual election results become known, and will ultimately show the new makeup of the Parliament. In addition to a traditional “seating chart” view,  the interactive visualization also enables readers to view MEP seats by region or country, making it simple and fun to learn more about the election and political parties that comprise the Parliament.

The centerpiece on the Elections hub is one of several data stories live at launch, and the first of several engaging technology projects POLITICO and Microsoft are developing together. Additional Power BI reports live on the hub at launch include a trends piece on polling results, voter turnout and women MEPs.

Next month, POLITICO Europe will launch country-level pages in the hub, leveraging the rich visualization and interactive capabilities of Power BI to share vital information about each of the 27 EU-member countries participating in the election. Microsoft and POLITICO Europe will also launch new content formats that bring discussion about the future of the EU to new and existing readers.

Power BI is the go-to- tool to  thinking about data-rich topics, whether in the boardroom with customers like Heathrow International Airport, or in news articles published by the Associated Press, Recode and many others.

Read more about POLITICO’s Election hub and how Microsoft technology is empowering the POLITICO team to achieve more in their press release.

Find out more about the POLITICO Europe Power BI report and Power BI for data journalism, on the Power BI blog after 9am PDT.

Tags: Elections, europe, POLITICO, Power BI