DHS building cyber workforce

It is well documented that the Department of Homeland Security has not been up to speed in protecting the government's computer networks from cyber attacks, and lacks the workforce necessary to do the job. Philip Reitinger, a deputy undersecretary at the National Cyber Center, and Greg Schaffer, an assistant secretary at the office of cybersecurity and communication, say that they plan to change the status quo.

In an interview with InformationWeek, both men vowed to beef up the workforce that now relies heavily on outside contractors and the National Security Agency because of limited in-house capacity. Reitinger said he wants to "build cybersecurity into the DNA of the infrastructure, into the DNA of the businesses, into the DNA of all the government entities." He added that his priority is on building capability.

"That's primarily about people," Reitinger said. "I have some awesome people here at DHS; we have a great team, but we just don't have enough of them yet, and we're in strict competition with the private sector..." He also said responsibilities across the government need to be clarified.

Reitinger wants to build partnerships across DHS, across the government and with the private sector to develop "a national cyber incident response process" that will enable all of the entities to work together as one nation to respond to cybersecurity emergencies. The DHS official talked about building a set of metrics that will enable the people throughout government and industry to make better decisions about cybersecurity based on data, not conjecture. He also stressed the need to strengthen identity management.

To read about DHS plans:
- see this InformatonWeek.com article