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Is the US Federal Government Increasing Cyber-Risk Through Monoculture?
The US State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP) provides funding for entities to improve their cybersecurity posture and reduce risk. While this is beneficial for many public entities, it may inadvertently create a perfect storm condition for another major cyber incident.
Prior to the grant program, each entity would choose its own cybersecurity solutions, resulting in diversity and multiple layers of defense. The SLCGP, however, encourages states to standardize on a single product or vendor, creating a monoculture environment where a single attack can affect a significant portion of services.
The SolarWinds and CrowdStrike incidents demonstrate the devastating impact of a single vendor issue. If a state-wide solution is compromised, it could disrupt critical infrastructure services, including education, healthcare, and government administration, potentially affecting millions of people.
To mitigate this risk, promoting diverse layers of defense architecture should be required for receiving SLCGP funding. This would prevent a single incident from causing widespread disruption and ensure that cybersecurity solutions are robust and resilient.
Source: https://www.darkreading.com/cyber-risk/is-us-federal-government-increasing-cyber-risk-through-monoculture