(PR NewsChannel) / May 24, 2011 / WASHINGTON / Today at the semi-annual Government Technology Research Alliance Council Meeting federal CXO’s discussed top priorities for cloud computing security.
The federal “Cloud First” initiative calls for each agency to move three services to the Cloud by mid 2012, creating a need to develop cloud security/privacy technologies and strategies for use in the government. Research conducted by market research firm, Input, states that federal cyber security spending will rise from $8B in 2010 to $12B in 2015.
Chief Privacy Officers and CISOs including Jerry Hanley (Chief Privacy Officer, Energy), Jonathan Cantor (Chief Privacy Officer & Director of Open Government, Commerce), Marc Groman (Chief Privacy Officer, FTC) and Ned Goldberg (CISO, FDIC) shares strategies on ensuring that privacy standards are maintained in a session titled “Privacy Implications of an Increasingly Digital World: Cloud, Social Media, Mobility & More.”
“Privacy is about people and trust; the ‘I’ in IT” said Mr. Goldberg.
“The CPO (chief privacy officer) is your friend. If you don’t know your CPO, go find him or her” said Mr. Groman.
NIST’s 2010 revision of Special Publication 800-37, which placed renewed focus on the Continuous Monitoring element of the 2002 Federal Information Security Monitoring Act (FISMA), has helped agencies to move towards proactive security strategies and technologies.
Addressing the concerns many government executives face surrounding Cloud security and deploying continuous monitoring technologies onto cloud based services and infrastructures, Peter Mell (Senior Computer Scientist, NIST) and Ed Frola, (Systems Engineer, Centrify) shared best practices and technologies from government and industry cloud deployments.
“There exists great momentum surrounding continuous monitoring, both executive level and grass-roots” said Mr. Mell. “Organizations can leverage their existing security tools to evolve towards an automated continuous monitoring solution, enhance their own capability and meet upcoming reporting demands.”
SAIC CIO Charles Beard delivered the opening Keynote titled “Why Stop at the Cloud?: One Company’s Move to Low Earth Orbit where he shared his views on how security can be maintained and even increased through the use of new infrastructure models, governance models and technologies.
Also on hand was NIST Cyber Security Advisor Bill Newhouse, who talked with executives about the new “National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE)”, aimed at increasing cyber security awareness among children, adults and businesses across the country.
“It is imperative that cyber security and privacy become a top priority for every IT leader in an organization, not just those with a security title,” said Parham Eftekhari, Co-Founder & Director of Research, GTRA. “It is important for CIOs, CTOs, Chief Architects, CISOs and CPOs to discuss security collectively in order to effectively combat risk and win the war on cyber crime.”
About GTRA: GTRA brings together executive-level government technology Security, Enterprise Architecture, Green IT and Health IT leaders to collaborate, strategize and create innovative solutions. The semi-annual GTRA Technology Council Meeting address the topics identified through research with the government Council members and industry experts. By sharing best practices and lessons learned, knowledge is exchanged in a peer-to-peer forum, resulting in actionable government-wide strategic plans and cutting-edge solutions. Through a unique collaborative methodology, GTRA is revolutionizing the way government does business.
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