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U.S. CISO Spells Out Cybersecurity Priorities

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General Touhill defines priorities

Gen. Gregory Touhill is the first Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) in United States history.

President Barack Obama officially [link url=”https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/09/08/announcing-first-federal-chief-information-security-officer” title=”announced General Touhill as the CISO”] in September. The announcement of the position came as an important part of the [link url=”https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/02/09/fact-sheet-cybersecurity-national-action-plan” title=”Cybersecurity National Action Plan (CNAP)”] laid out in February 2016. According to a White House release, “a key feature of the CNAP is creation of the first CISO to drive cybersecurity policy.”

General Touhill recently [link url=”https://cio.gov/my-priorities-as-the-first-u-s-chief-information-security-officer/” title=”defined some priorities”] that will take centerstage as he takes over as CISO.

A strategic approach

Calling cybersecurity a “risk management issue,” General Touhill spoke of an overall strategic approach that focuses on five lines of effort:

— Harden the workforce.
— Treat information as an asset.
— Do the right things the right way.
— Continuously innovate and invest wisely.
— Make informed cyber risk decisions at the right level.

Cybersecurity Workforce Strategy

The previously laid our [link url=”https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/07/12/strengthening-federal-cybersecurity-workforce” title=”Cybersecurity Workforce Strategy”] is a main component of the overall cybersecurity strategy. This component works to find, train and retain skilled cybersecurity talent across government organizations.

Recently, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) [link url=”https://amuedge.com/dhs-looks-dispel-cybersecurity-job-myths/” title=”reported a successful cybersecurity hiring event”], so this strategy is already underway.

“Looking to the future, we need to build a modern enterprise architecture that enables us to securely and affordably deliver a more open and transparent government … Across all departments and agencies, we need to give our senior leaders the actionable business case information they need to plan, program and budget so that we can rapidly deliver innovative solutions that are effective, efficient, and secure.” — [link url=”https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/09/08/announcing-first-federal-chief-information-security-officer” title=”Gen. Gregory Touhill”]

Innovation & investment

Focusing on innovation and continually investing in wise cyber initiatives will also be keys to success, General Touhill noted, and following those five lines of effort closely will help to secure the nation from future cyber attacks.

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