All Major Agencies Will Be on Federal Cybersecurity Dashboard by February

Two federal agencies have connected to a governmentwide cybersecurity dashboard so far and all major agencies will be plugged in by the end of February, a top Homeland Security Department official told Nextgov Tuesday.

The federal cybersecurity dashboard is an outgrowth of Homeland Security’s Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program, which helps agencies scan their networks for digital threats.

The dashboard draws information from sensors across government computer networks and feeds them to Homeland Security so the department’s cyber officials can keep an eye on what software is running across the entire government.

After the top 24 government agencies are plugged into the dashboard in February, Homeland Security will begin connecting smaller offices and agencies, Assistant Secretary Jeanette Manfra told Nextgov.

All agencies will eventually be connected to the dashboard but there’s not a firm timeline for when that will happen, Manfra said on the sidelines of a conference hosted by the cyber publication Fifth Domain.

Previously, when Homeland Security learned about major vulnerabilities, such as the 2014 Heartbleed bug, the department could only send out a blanket alert or call around to each agency’s technology shop to figure out who in government might be affected.

“Now, I can have advanced awareness of a vulnerability,” Manfra said during a recent think tank address. “I can go into our dashboard and know instantly who’s running that version of that system and focus the agencies on protecting that asset.”