October 2016

The White House's first chief information security officer has ambitious plans to shore up government cybersecurity, including elaborate educational campaigns for employees and ensuring investments in data protection are proportional to the value of that data. In one of his first public appearances since his appointment in Sept, Gregory Touhill said his approach to cybersecurity was multipronged with separate goals for hiring cyber talent; educating federal workers about cyber hygiene; and encouraging agencies to treat information as an "asset" by considering whether it's worth it to invest in high-tech protections for low-value data sets.

"We focus too much on the technology and the keyboard stuff," he said. "Protecting information could be as simple as not discussing certain information over the phone, guarding the paperwork that you provide, shredding information that appropriately needs to be disposed of." In 2017, his team plans to come up with new ways to "educate and train and hopefully entertain our workforce, to help them better understand both the 'why' as well as the 'how' of cybersecurity," Touhill said. Annual reviews of computer programs, he added, won't be enough to ensure proper cyber protection. In the near term, the administration plans to launch Cyber.gov, a repository for information about cybersecurity-related goals and strategies, in the next couple of weeks. A group of federal CISOs will have their first meeting Oct 28; Touhill is also considering setting up a volunteer CISO advisory council.

Having a working phone during a hurricane may be as vital as having electricity — and the big three cellular carriers said their networks delivered by keeping nearly all its customers along Florida's Treasure Coast connected as Hurricane Matthew churned north on Oct 6.

AT&T Wireless, Sprint and Verizon executives said most of their customers remained connected before, during and after Hurricane Matthew, and their networks performed well. Sprint reported having issues at one St. Lucie County (FL) cell site, which was blamed on a power outage, said company spokeswoman Roni Singleton. “Service should be essentially normal for our customers in the area,” Singleton said. Well ahead of the storm, cell companies rolled out emergency action plans to remain operational, which for Sprint included fueling permanent generators and mobilizing portable generators into threatened areas. Verizon had backup batteries at cell sites and switching centers that kept the network running and customers connected when commercial power failed, spokeswoman Karen Schulz said. AT&T and Verizon also waived data overage charges for talk and text services from Oct 7 to 11.