White House To Modernize Cybersecurity Reports

The Internet’s a dangerous place. Not just for John Q. Public and his credit card but for government agencies charged with safeguarding our national security and the critical infrastructure that’s been increasingly targeted by international hacking rings.

With this reality in mind, the Obama administration is stepping up its efforts to modernize all government IT systems and is now requiring all agencies to collect and distribute real-time information on ongoing and potential cyber attacks rather than relying on out-dated, paper-based systems.

eSecurity Planet delves into the new electronic alert mandate and how the government hopes these improvements will reduce the lag time between identifying and resolving threats.

The new reporting requirements are the result of an interagency task force formed in September 2009 to reshuffle the metrics agencies use to evaluate the security of their systems.


As the Obama administration continues its efforts to update and strengthen the federal government’s defenses against cyber threats, the White House has issued new rules that will require agencies to monitor their IT systems for intrusions and vulnerabilities in real time.

A memo released this week by the Office of Management and Budget lays out new requirements for agencies to set up automated threat-monitoring feeds that automatically gather data from security management tools — enabling admins to gather real-time data on attacks and other dangers.

“We are shifting the focus from old-styled, paper-based reports to real-time electronic data that feed directly and immediately into security monitoring and alert systems,” Federal CIO Vivek Kundra said in a post on the White House blog.



Read the full story at eSecurity Planet:


White House Tightens Cybersecurity Reporting Requirements

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