Schmidt takes charge of cybersecurity priorities

Howard Schmidt, cybersecurity coordinator and special assistant to the president, is taking charge personally of a Cross-Agency Priority Cybersecurity goal to support implementation of the Barack Obama administration’s three key cybersecurity priorities.

Schmidt announced his involvement in a March 30 entry on the White House blog.

The three priority areas are Trusted Internet Connections, continuous monitoring of federal information systems and strong authentication.

TIC consolidates external telecommunications connections, leaving a smaller number of vulnerable connection points that are thereby easier to monitor. Continuous monitoring of federal systems turns cybersecurity into “a dynamic risk mitigation program that provides essential, near real-time security status and remediation, increasing visibility into system operations and helping security personnel make risk-management decisions based on increased situational awareness,” he wrote.

And regarding authentication, Schmidt wrote, “Passwords alone provide little security. Federal smartcard credentials such as PIV (Personnel Identity Verification) and CAC (Common Access Cards) cards provide multi-factor authentication and digital signature and encryption capabilities, authorizing users to access federal information systems with a higher level of assurance.”

Schmidt wrote that his goal is to greatly improve federal agency adoption of the three priorities and other critical cybersecurity capabilities. He wants to see 95 percent utilization of them by the end of 2014.

“Many departments and agencies have been working on these areas for several years, and there has been much progress,” he wrote. “By focusing on these priorities we plan to push adoption past the tipping point of adoption for all federal systems.”