The White House has announced that the USA has its first Federal Chief Information Security Officer (CISO): Brigadier General (retired) Gregory J Touhill.
In February, President Obama announced a Cybersecurity National Action Plan (CNAP) that, according to his Administration, takes a series of short-term and long-term actions to improve our cybersecurity posture within the Federal Government and across the US.
For more about that plan, visit the White House website.
December saw the passage of the Cybersecurity Act of 2015, which provides tools for the US’s cybersecurity, particularly by making it easier for private companies to share cyber threat information with each other and the Government. The federal 2017 Budget allocates more than $19 billion for cybersecurity – a more than 35 percent increase over the 2016 enacted level.
General Touhill is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Cybersecurity and Communications in the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications (CS&C) at the US federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS). There he focuses on the development of operational programmes designed to protect US government networks and critical infrastructure. And Grant Schneider is the Acting Deputy CISO; he’s serving as the Director for Cybersecurity Policy on the National Security Council staff at the White House where he focuses on development and oversight of cybersecurity policies.
Comment
For comment see the blog of the IT association ISC2: http://blog.isc2.org/isc2_blog/2016/02/new-federal-ciso-history-in-the-making.html.
