Touhill to head up Cyxtera's D.C. office

Former federal Chief Information Security Officer Gen. Gregory Touhill has been tapped to lead a new federal group within a Florida-based data center, cybersecurity and infrastructure services provider.

Touhill, a retired Air Force brigadier general, was named president of the data center security provider Cyxtera's newly formed Cyxtera Federal Group, according to a July 11 statement from the company. 

The new group, the statement said, will offer Cyxtera's secure infrastructure solutions from its data centers, including six in the Washington, D.C. , metropolitan area.

Touhill, appointed by President Barack Obama in 2016 as the first federal CISO, was responsible for digital security policy, strategy and practices across federal agencies. He stepped down in January.

As CISO, Touhill was an advocate for improving cyber hygiene governmentwide and backed the introduction of bug bounties to ferret out IT security problems at agencies. Before becoming CISO, Touhill served as deputy assistant secretary for cybersecurity and communications at the Department of Homeland Security.