Agency Cyber Pros Welcome DHS’ Leadership If It’s Not One-Size-Fits-All

Waehasman Waedarase/Shutterstock.com

Homeland Security is well-positioned to lead governmentwide cyber acquisitions and standards, so long as they work with agencies as individuals, officials said.

Under the White House’s new shared services policy, the Homeland Security Department has been chosen as the official lead agency for all cybersecurity acquisitions, programs and standards across government. Security leaders at federal agencies say they’re on board with this structure, so long as Homeland Security officials don’t try to force everyone into the same box.

Homeland Security was named as the Quality Services Management Office for cybersecurity, a new designation that puts the department at the center of all cybersecurity decisions governmentwide. As agencies improve their existing capabilities or stand up new ones, Homeland Security will have authority to set the standards by which those agencies operate.

“I actually appreciate the top-cover,” said Eric Rippetoe, chief information security officer for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. “A lot of these things that they’re telling us to do, I’ve been trying to do anyway.”

Rippetoe was one of a handful of federal cybersecurity officials at a roundtable discussion Wednesday ahead of the Thales Data Security Summit. Despite having the cover of Chatham House rules—wherein the information can be used but cannot be attributed to specific individuals—most participants were willing to share their thoughts on the record.

“I do have great support from our executive already” when it comes to implementing best practices communicated by Homeland Security today, Rippetoe said. “But translating those recommendations—they ask if it’s actually required and I’m like, ‘No, but it’s the best thing to do, though.’ So, I don’t mind the top-cover from DHS.”

But the department has stumbled before in its efforts to unify federal security operations, including in the early rollout of the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation, or CDM, program, which established a contract with a set of cybersecurity tools agencies could buy.

“A lot of agencies suffered because there was a lack of understanding by DHS of their cultures,” said Tarrazzia Martin, a government digital technology expert.

“I think what happened was there’s a translation issue but there was also a technical prowess issue,” she added, offering her own perspective and not that of her agency. “Many of the DHS technical experts … were at a different level of understanding and technical prowess than many of the civilian agencies were used to. So, there was a communication breakdown. It took a long time to even know how to spell CDM.”

Those issues have improved, according to a federal cybersecurity acquisition official who asked to remain anonymous.

“That’s probably the most important thing of a QSMO approach—or a shared services approach—is recognizing that there’s not a single template, there’s not a one-size-fits-all,” the official said. “DHS is not going to suddenly turn the [National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center] into the Federal [Computer Emergency Response Team]. It’s not going to happen that way. And they recognize that, as well.”

Martin said she hopes Homeland Security officials have learned that lesson.

“I think DHS has to consider that many of these agencies are infants in their understanding and take their time to make sure things actually happen as they’re supposed to and they don’t get left behind,” she said. “Don’t come in like a bulldozer but actually understand those cultures. It’s a very big deal for acceptance.”

While the new shared services policy only covers civilian agencies, defense agencies are all too familiar with what happens when organizations try to scale specific requirements.

“Being a government organization, how we acquire, how we get to singular solutions, those acquisition and other challenges at scale become really, wicked hard,” said Air Force Deputy Chief Information Officer Bill Marion, noting the service has almost 1 million endpoints on the unclassified network alone.

“There’s a certain level of standardization we want to drive. But be careful: The all-in model in the government never works,” he said. If they do take that tack, officials should expect the program to fail “not on the technical front, but all the secondary fronts on how you acquire and deliver it.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.