Design Thinking: the Cyber Defense Strategy for Local Government Agencies
Insights / Blog

Design Thinking: the Cyber Defense Strategy for Local Government Agencies

Design Thinking: the Cyber Defense Strategy for Local Government Agencies

In early 2016, cyber hacktivists targeted the state of Michigan’s main website to draw attention to the Flint water crisis. Hacktivist (activists who are cyber hackers) attacks on state and local governments have extended to denying the public access to government websites to acquire information or use their services e.g., pay taxes. More sinister attacks may be directed towards local infrastructure, for example, the electrical grid, water treatment works, and transportation hubs. State and non-state actors are weaponizing cyber tools. North Korea, Russia, and China are building their arsenals through protestors and terrorist groups and the bored basement teenager.

With such an array of potential threats and local government faced with the challenge of where to direct limited resources, Design Thinking provides a possible approach to help frame and address cyber issues.

Design Thinking is particularly applicable to the homeland security mission given its value to solve “wicked” problems that are complex interdependencies and dynamic, therefore cannot be definitively described or solved. The homeland security community can use Design Thinking processes for developing innovative intervention strategies for these complex, dynamic cyber threats. Design Thinking can help drive a culture of innovation in a resourced constrained environment. As Anthony Masys states, “It is about not only understanding the future but also influencing it.”

Local government can employ Design Thinking by using these steps:

  • Empathize: Learn about the cyber issues involved. For example, capture perspectives from local government employees and their cyber practices (not just IT), and understand possible current and future motivations of perpetrators
  • Frame and Re-Frame: Frame and understand the cyber issues impacting the local government based on the empathize stage
  • Explore: Develop creative solutions for developing effective cyber defenses. These are not just technical but also human centric, for example, installing a culture of effective cyber-hygiene for employees to not unwittingly allow a hacker in
  •  Prototype: Review scaled down approaches to defend and prevent attacks. This may include new cyber-hygiene and work flow practices
  • Implement: Test and refine the approaches through red teaming hypothetical attacks and scenarios

The step-by-step Design Thinking process offers cyber security analysts with a dynamic and flexible approach to meet the adaptive threat.

About Arc Aspicio                                      Arc Aspicio is a management, strategy, and technology consulting firm that takes a mission-oriented approach to complex client challenges. As a rapidly growing company, Arc Aspicio has a bold strategy for 2016-2018 that drives growth through new capabilities in strategy, design, human capital, data analytics, information sharing, cybersecurity, and strategic communications. The company is known for a strong, collaborative culture that values gratitude – for its clients and its great team. And, #welovedogs! Follow us on Twitter @arcaspicio or learn more at www.arcaspicio.com

Blog Design Thinking Strategy

Contributors

* Arc Aspicio |

Arc Aspicio enhances the future of our nation by creating bold ideas and bringing them to life. A consulting and solutions company, Arc Aspicio solves problems by applying our integrated capabilities in strategy, design, data, human capital, behavioral science, and technology. The company passionately pursues our vision to be the hub of creativity where people take action to change the world. To do this, employees collaborate with clients and partners to create solutions using a human-centered approach. Innovation is not possible without action. The company focuses on strategy first, then takes a hands-on approach implementing ideas to achieve results. Join Arc Aspicio and our Strategy Innovation Lab (SILab) by creating and sharing ideas to inspire people to change the world. Follow us on Twitter @ArcAspicio @SILabDC and, #welovedogs!

Meet Arc Aspicio  |  View all Insights by Arc Aspicio

△
Running IT Like a Business: How Technology Business Management is Shaping the Future of Federal Agencies

Running IT Like a Business: How Technology Business Management is Shaping the Future of Federal Agencies

As the Government continually looks for ways to increase efficiency and encourage innovation, Information Technology (IT) is emerging as a solution to these needs. Recent Federal guidance mandates all agencies to adopt a new framework for better understanding IT costs. Technology Business Management (TBM) is a framework that incorporates IT departments into the overall business network, shifting away from treating IT as an independent unit. This provides a clear way to evaluate and manage IT, running IT as a business and communicating the value of new IT investments.

→
Michael Boyce
Behavioral Science – Using Behavioral Science to Affect Action

Behavioral Science – Using Behavioral Science to Affect Action

How do organizations encourage behavior change in their customers? Increasingly, they focus on customer experience, and as a consequence employ behavioral science methodologies. At the heart of behavioral science is the consideration of how an organization can make small investments that generate incremental savings/returns while considering both customers and organizational benefits. One example is Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Pre✓® and U.C. Customs and Border Protection’s Global Entry programs.

→
Karin Jones
,
Launching into #Action Through Strategy

Launching into #Action Through Strategy

As a new employee, your first company-wide meeting can make you nervous. This was how I felt.

Arc Aspicio’s recent Strategy Launch Day was so well planned and it involved participants so that I learned that I had nothing to worry about! The company treats each employee equally and equips even the newest joiners with the information and skills they need to have a meaningful experience

→
Alexis Hollon
, ,
What Being a Consultant Means to Me

What Being a Consultant Means to Me

As a Consulting Associate at Arc Aspicio, I provide expertise and insight to help clients solve difficult problems. To be successful, a consultant does not need only to be a subject matter expert on their client’s industry and needs - though this often ends up happening over time.

→
Katherine Delk
Captivate Your Audience Through Design+Data

Captivate Your Audience Through Design+Data

So often, senior leaders must communicate their strategic and simple vision in a world of growing complexity. They must make decisions – and frequently explain them – based on an enterprise view of their data. It’s getting easier to do this these days through data visualizations and infographics that speak to specific employee and stakeholder audiences. Design+Data is what we call it at Arc Aspicio.

→
Lynn Ann Casey
,
Chief Data Officers: Six Steps to Manage Data as an Enterprise Asset

Chief Data Officers: Six Steps to Manage Data as an Enterprise Asset

With an exponential increase in the types and quantities of data, organizations need defined strategies and techniques to manage data as an enterprise asset. To create enterprise-wide use of data, a Chief Data Officer (CDO) needs a clear data agenda for leadership and the whole organization to address current and future needs. CDOs should follow this six-part data plan to achieve short term capability gains and plot a path to greater enterprise data maturity.

→
Rob O'Keefe
,
Securing Cyberspace: Agile Strategy to Counter Changing Threats

Securing Cyberspace: Agile Strategy to Counter Changing Threats

Cybersecurity, managing and protecting computer systems from attacks, is evolving just as quickly as the techniques hackers use to cause damage. Historically, the public and private sectors believed that stronger technology and more advanced computer systems alone were enough to prevent attacks. As new trends emerge and the technologies used to both conduct and prevent hackings improve, cybersecurity strategies must remain agile, trying new tactics to counter changing threats.

→
* Arc Aspicio
,
Hacking Back – Do the Benefits Outweigh the Risks?

Hacking Back – Do the Benefits Outweigh the Risks?

With the increased frequency and sophistication of cyber-attacks worldwide, companies and executives are becoming frustrated with a traditional focus on defensive tactics. As a result, some private sector actors are taking a more active role in cybersecurity by “hacking back” – hacking against the very groups that are attacking their systems in retaliation or to retrieve stolen data. As hacking back rises in popularity, it is important to consider a number of political and legal issues and the risks to counter-terrorism efforts.

→
Katie Vaughan
LeadersNest Names Lynn Ann Casey a FedFem Award Honoree

LeadersNest Names Lynn Ann Casey a FedFem Award Honoree

Washington, DC, October 19, 2018 — LeadersNest named Arc Aspicio CEO Lynn Ann Casey a FedFem Award Honoree. The FedFem awards salute high-impact women executives and leaders of the government contracting community. FedFem Award Honorees blend their entrepreneurial courage and Federal government support that effectively impacts the industry, national economy, and the local marketplace. 

→
* Arc Aspicio
Boosting the Mission: Developing Acquisition Requirements Guidance

Boosting the Mission: Developing Acquisition Requirements Guidance

To keep up with the fast pace of change in the field of Government acquisitions, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) components are developing their own acquisition requirements (AR) policies. However, without specific timeframes to finalize these policies, DHS agencies often lack guidance on how to develop ARs. Among DHS agencies, the U.S. Coast Guard is leading the way with their own formal policy to describe this process. To compliment the U.S. Coast Guard’s policy, DHS created the Joint Requirements Integration and Management System (JRIMS) to offer direction for agencies—to review, validate, and suggest solutions for capability gaps and requirements.

→
Michael Hoffman
,