July 16, 2015
Nation’s Cybersecurity Upgraded with New Practices and Standards
Over the last six months the U.S. Government implemented a wide range of policies; both domestic and international, to improve the nation’s cybersecurity/cyber defenses, enhance our response capabilities, and upgrade our incident management tools.
[Related: Vice President Biden Announces $25 Million Grant to HBCUs for Cybersecurity Education]
Here are only a few of the major achievements the administration has implemented as detailed in a White House press release:
Supported private sector efforts to improve cybersecurity.
The Administration hosted the White House Summit on Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection at Stanford University on February 13, which brought together leaders from businesses throughout the economy, consumer and privacy groups, educators, students, law enforcement, and other government agencies. At the Summit, over two dozen companies made commitments. They have all started to act upon their commitments to share best practices, adhere to stronger security standards, use the Cybersecurity Framework of Standards and Best Practices to manage their cyber risk, share cyber-threat information, and adopt more secure payment technologies.
Proposed new cybersecurity legislation.
In January, the President sent Congress a new cybersecurity legislative proposal that included information sharing and data breach notification provisions. In April, the House of Representatives passed two bi-partisan bills similar to the President’s information sharing proposal.
Enhanced public/private collaboration.
The administration promotes a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)-developed Cybersecurity Framework as a key method for managing cyber risk, and Federal departments have expanded collaborative engagements with the private sector to build mutual understanding and improve cybersecurity.
Established partnerships to secure technology.
The Department of Commerce has launched two initiatives to strengthen cybersecurity in the hardware and software used in computers and on the Internet. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is expanding their domestic multi-stakeholder model to promote Stakeholder Engagement on Cybersecurity in the Digital Ecosystem. Also, NIST has created the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence to partner with the private sector, academia, and other government agencies in order to find solutions to security problems inherent in technology. The center will produce generally available standards-based reference designs, templates, and example “builds,†in order to reduce costs and complexities and enable companies in all sectors to use more secure technology.
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