{"id":177390,"date":"2026-01-13T06:37:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T11:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/13\/on-the-defensive-strengthening-government-cybersecurity-in-a-changing-landscape\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T07:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T12:20:12","slug":"on-the-defensive-strengthening-government-cybersecurity-in-a-changing-landscape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/13\/on-the-defensive-strengthening-government-cybersecurity-in-a-changing-landscape\/","title":{"rendered":"On the defensive: strengthening government cybersecurity in a changing landscape"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the defensive: strengthening government cybersecurity in a changing landscape<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.globalgovernmentforum.com\/on-the-defensive-strengthening-government-cybersecurity-in-a-changing-landscape\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-01-13 06:37:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.globalgovernmentforum.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Author: <\/a><\/p>\n

Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t AI generated image by deeznutz1 via Pixabay <\/p>\n

\t\t\tThe scale and nature of cyber threats against governments is changing. In a Global Government Forum webinar, public sector experts from three countries discussed the causes, managing risk across the supply chain, and the part AI is playing in assisting perpetrators of cybercrime \u2013 and in defending against itThe cybersecurity threats faced by governments are always evolving, with criminals and state actors working hard to exploit vulnerabilities. In this webinar, experts from the national cybersecurity centres of Belgium, Norway and Finland shared insights into the factors behind the current cyber landscape and how governments can defend against attacks.The session began with an overview of the changing nature of cyber threats against governments and public institutions, fuelled in part by geopolitics and an increase in the threat from state-sponsored actors. \u00a0Martin Albert-Hoff is director of Norway\u2019s National Cyber Security Centre. He noted that the current geopolitical situation is playing a \u201chuge role\u201d in the changing cybersecurity landscape and driving an increase in cyber threats, attacks and related influence in politics, as well as use of cyber in warfare.Janne Allonen, deputy cybersecurity director at the Ministry of Transport and Communications\u2019 Office of the National Cyber Security Director of Finland, agreed that attacks are becoming more diverse.The more traditional opportunistic incidents like phishing, ransomware, malware and distributed denial-of-service are still very common, he said, but these are increasingly interspersed with attacks by state actors like Russia, China and North Korea which are more sophisticated in nature.At a time when governments and economies are increasingly digitised, attacks are becoming more frequent and more damaging.One of the threats Norway faces, as highlighted in a report last year by the Norwegian Intelligence Service is \u2018pre-positioning\u2019, whereby state-sponsored actors work to establish a foothold in critical infrastructure to enable what Albert-Hoff described as \u201cfuture digital sabotage\u201d.\u00a0\u201cWe are getting more and more dependent on technology\u2026 and when you start using a lot of different types of technology, the situation gets more complex, and as the complexity grows, it\u2019s harder to have a complete and holistic understanding of the vulnerabilities in our systems. That, in turn, exposes us,\u201d he said. \u00a0\u201cPre-positioning and [cyber] sabotage could really hurt a digitalised society.\u201dRead more: Lessons from Canadian cyber-defenceShoring up the supply chainThis led to a conversation about public sector reliance on private sector technology and how to ensure the supply chain is secure.While Albert-Hoff acknowledged that a degree of digital dependency on private sector companies is necessary, he warned that the public sector should be \u201caware of the consequences when we put so many eggs in one basket\u201d.Another of the panellists, Taco Mulder, who works at the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium, agreed. Some governments\u2019 dependence on the private sector is very high, which is \u201ctotally understandable\u201d, he said, but that makes it imperative not to \u201close all your internal knowledge\u201d. He advocates maintaining control over the supply chain through audits and certifications, for example, and building cybersecurity measures into procurement.The European Union\u2019s NIS2 Directive, which aims to enhance cybersecurity across the bloc by imposing stricter security requirements on a broader range of sectors and entities, is useful and is being integrated into new contracts, Mulder said. But with related obligations still being worked into law, contracts signed before the directive came in may not protect against cybersecurity weaknesses.\u201cThere\u2019s basically a constant revision and updating of the expectations of the supply chain,\u201d he said. Allonen pointed out that in Finland and many other countries, critical infrastructure related to energy, telecommunications, finance and healthcare is privately owned.\u201cThis makes the private sector the lifeblood of national cybersecurity,\u201d he said. \u00a0Collaboration, therefore, is critical. Finland\u2019s National Cyber Security Centre has established information sharing and analysis centres that bring together companies \u2013 some of them competitors \u2013 from 16 sectors with a focus on exchanging information between them and across the whole of government.And digital sovereignty is another issue, with Mulder highlighting that it\u2019s sensible not to be too dependent on suppliers in countries \u201cthat could basically cut us off and put us on the black list if we don\u2019t agree on certain issues\u201d.Read more: Ukraine \u2018deepens cooperation\u2019 with Estonia in digital governance and cybersecurityBasic cyber hygiene being missedAt a more foundational level, creating the conditions for good cybersecurity in government relies on civil and public servants practicing basic cyber hygiene. This includes measures such as choosing strong passwords and changing them regularly, using multi-factor authentication, and ensuring IT security updates are installed \u2013 all of which can drastically increase the protection of government systems.Yet Albert-Hoff expressed frustration that simple measures are being missed. He believes that more needs to be done to embed cyber hygiene and to ensure practices are kept up-to-date. \u201cI\u2019ve been in cybersecurity for 25 years and I see that it\u2019s a topic now in boardrooms and at senior management level, and that\u2019s good, but it\u2019s not moving fast enough,\u201d he said.\u201cI\u2019m honestly getting really tired of advising on updating to the latest secure [software] version \u2013 that should be unnecessary so that we can focus on the really serious stuff. But still we are telling people to change their passwords.\u201dAs the panellists highlighted, cybersecurity \u2018fatigue\u2019 \u2013 where repetitive security tasks leads to a decrease in vigilance and compliance \u2013 can be a problem.Mulder called it \u201cwishful thinking\u201d but wondered aloud whether it might be an idea to require employees to pass a cyber hygiene test before they can use government systems and to re-test them periodically.\u00a0Read more: Responsibility for UK public sector cybersecurity moves to Government Digital ServiceAI: a threat and an opportunityTalk turned to artificial intelligence and its use by adversaries to plan and commit cyber attacks, as well as the use of AI by government organisations to defend themselves.In Mulder\u2019s opinion, one of the problems with AI is the belief among developers \u2013 whether internal or external \u2013 that the architecture and software they\u2019ve created is safe, when in reality it may not be.\u201cEverybody thinks they know what they\u2019re working on but a lot of people tend to believe that they know more than they really do, which, if you look at your architecture, is a huge vulnerability.\u201dHe added: \u201cA lot of AI is developed through tools like GitHub, which is fine, but even the developers themselves could potentially include attack code.\u201dFor Allonen, there are two applications of AI in cybercrime that he finds particularly worrying. One is the use of deepfakes. The other is the use of AI to generate convincing, personalised phishing emails and to translate messages into any language almost perfectly, helping criminals orchestrate phishing campaigns and social engineering on an even bigger scale.He also pointed out that AI can be used to gather intelligence, to scan for weaknesses and identify vulnerabilities, and to run simulations for adversaries.AI presents what Mulder called a \u201cmulti-pronged danger\u201d, but it is also an opportunity. He gave the example of hospitals, which can face millions of cyber-attacks every day: \u201cThere\u2019s no human who can fight that, so the maturity increase [of AI] is also [beneficial] on the defensive side.\u201dAllonen agreed, adding that AI can support real-time decision-making, simulate attack scenarios, and aid in cyber exercises.But as Albert-Hoff warned, there are also risks tied to adopting artificial intelligence too quickly. \u201cWe can unintentionally have some major incidents by using AI because we don\u2019t understand how to use it in a proper way,\u201d he said. \u00a0Geopolitical events and tensions and the growing presence of state actors in the cyber landscape, increasing digitisation, and technologies like AI are all quickening the pace of change in cybersecurity, and as Allonen made clear: \u201cThe bad guys run a little bit faster than the legislation or authorities can keep up.\u201dHe recalled Finnish cybercrime expert Mikko Hypponen\u00a0saying that 20 years ago, mobile phones were so big \u201cyou almost needed a truck to carry one with you\u201d, but that now everybody has a supercomputer in their hand.\u201cThat has happened in only 20 years. Imagine what technology brings within the next 20 years,\u201d Allonen said.Governments will have their work cut out to keep up with the new threats that emerge as a result \u2013 but with more and more countries establishing dedicated national cybersecurity centres, building related expertise and sharing intelligence, they are in a good place to outwit their adversaries.The \u2018How to tackle the most common cyber threats government faces\u2019 webinar was hosted by Global Government Forum and took place on 20 November 2025. Watch the webinar in full here\u00a0and hear the panellists\u2019 discuss a range of other cyber-related topics, including:International collaboration and information exchange between countries and entities<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s feasible for small countries to have a dedicated cyber centre, how they can build alliances with other countries to shore up their defences<\/p>\n

Legislative gaps in relation to AI in cybersecurity and how to close them<\/p>\n

More on basic cyber hygiene and how to encourage civil and public servants to adopt simple measures that will help protect government systems<\/p>\n

More on cybersecurity across the supply chain<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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