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Enhancing Counterintelligence Data for Improved Insider Threat Response with DCSA
CATEGORY:
Federal Government
Understanding the Need for Data in Counterintelligence Threat Response
DCSA specializes in addressing insider threats and in counterintelligence. It has a vast network of agents dedicated to investigating potential threats and providing detailed reports to protect and ensure security. Within this process, accurate reporting is absolutely crucial, as it enables the agency to analyze and use this data to safeguard against potential risks. PVM collaborates with DCSA to tailor and manage the forms this agency uses to collect this crucial data within their system.
Challenges in Collecting Counterintelligence Data Using Forms
While DCSA understood the importance of accurate reporting, it did not have the tools and processes in place to consistently keep their data up-to-date and complete standardize the data they were collecting from multiple sources.
Manually Updating Data
The forms DCSA uses to file investigation reports requires up-to-date and accurate data for each field. For example, when an agent is reporting about a certain cleared contractor facility, they must select the region that corresponds to that particular cleared contractor facility. This way, all potential threats for one specific facility are logged under a single record in the system. Keeping this data up-to-date was extremely time consuming for DCSA, requiring them to type in the data manually—for example updating 100 region names or changing 50 agent names to correspond to the correct region. And oftentimes, the agents who would be asked to update the data didn’t have time to do it themselves. Since this manual data entry was taking a long time and was subject to human error, it was causing reporting issues and preventing the agency from having the most up-to-date information to react to threats.
Inconsistent Form Responses
DCSA was also experiencing some issues from inconsistent reporting. Some agents were using forms with different fields than others. Other agents were skipping fields or entering data incorrectly. As a result, the agency had incomplete data, hindering their ability to protect against insider threats and conduct counterintelligence. By structuring the data in a consistent and standardized manner, our client can perform complex queries, generate accurate reports, and extract valuable insights more efficiently.
Improving Threat Response with Data Transformation
To help the agency solve these challenges, PVM worked with them to complete data transformations and streamline forms to allow the organization to normalize their data for better reporting and overall management of threats.
Specifically, we delivered:
New Tool for Batch Data Updates
PVM created a headless client tool that allows for batch data updates, eliminating the hours spent updating the data manually. PVM uses this tool to make data updates whenever the client has new information to load into the system, which also takes the burden of managing the data off the agency so they can focus on their mission. As a result, the client now has a much more efficient and accurate way to update the data across all its forms without any downtime on the system so they can better react to threat investigations.
Data Normalization
To help the client collect more consistent and accurate data, PVM helped customize, standardize, and tailor the forms to meet their specific needs. From making fields mandatory so that investigators are required to fill out the same fields to making other form field changes to ensure they could collect the data they needed, PVM was able to help the client standardize and normalize their data. This solution now enables the client to produce more accurate reports and save time sorting through inconsistent data.
Unlocking the Power of Data for Counterintelligence
PVM’s data transformation work with this counterintelligence agency has enabled their organization to better react to threat investigations with more accurate and consistent data reporting, while reducing the time this group needs to spend on data management. By unlocking the power of counterintelligence agency, PVM has enabled this group to use their data to accomplish their missions and protect public safety.
If you’re looking to get more from your data, contact PVM today to learn how we can help you unlock the power of your data for good.