Army's Bailey, Congress' Aguilar and Wicker honored for cyber efforts

Phyllis Bailey, the CIO for the Army's Information Assurance Training, Education, and Awareness Division, is one of CompTIA's 2018 Excellence in Cybersecurity Award winners, alongside Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss). Those awards were presented at a June 13 event in Washington, D.C.

Bailey, who has served as an Army IT specialist since 1981, was recognized for her crucial role in the development and implementation of DOD Directive 8570, which sets baseline certification requirements for information security officials in the cyber workforce. CompTIA Executive Vice President of Public Advocacy Elizabeth Hyman called Bailey a "guiding light" for the policy.

Aguilar and Wicker, meanwhile, were honored for their congressional cyber leadership, particularly with regard to workforce development. According to Hyman, this year's nominees were judged in part on how they'd helped put the president’s May executive order on cybersecurity into action.

"It’s become increasingly clear that cyber warfare will be one of the biggest threats to our national security in the 21st century," Aguilar said when the awards were announced. "[W]e need to do all we can to prepare for that reality."