03.23.20 - Census day is right around the corner and technically you have no choice legally but to participate in the mandatory festivities. Thankfully, the Census Bureau promises it won’t be of any inconvenience this year as it’s 2020 and they’ve moved it online - instead of having to do it over the phone, through mail, or even worse, by having census takers just show up on your doorstep.
Filling out the census should be very simple and is instrumental in determining important aspects of how we arrange and organize our society, but when it comes to government websites especially, simplicity can never be fully guaranteed.
Some would say it seems obvious that cybersecurity should be a grave concern with this census, and boy, are some people right. The government doesn’t exactly have a glowing track record when it comes to websites. Many government websites have a history of lacking important things such as functionality or security.
The Census Bureau, however, assures us that it is taking cybersecurity precautions very seriously, and frankly, there’s no better way for the government to take cybersecurity seriously than outsourcing it to the private sector. The Census Bureau has announced its partnering with Microsoft’s Defending Democracy Program and using Amazon Web Service’s cloud service to store the data. The Census Bureau has also stated that it’s working with the Department of Homeland Security to keep the 2020 Census secure.
The Government Accountability Office has stated that the Census Bureau “continues to face significant cybersecurity challenges, including those related to addressing cybersecurity weaknesses in a timely manner.”
Ultimately, we won’t have any idea how this will go until its already well underway, but regardless, we all can only do our part by filing out our forms.
Source: US Census Bureau
