Crossroads Blog | Institute National Security and Counterterrorism

Cyber Weapon, Cybersecurity, Data Breaches, OPM

Cyber Roundup: White House names first Cybersecurity Chief; Oversight Committee rips OPM; Officials want to split Cyber Command and NSA

  • White House names retired Air Force General as first cyber security chief (Reuters):    Reuters reports that the White House has named its first Cybersecurity Chief.   According to Dustin Volz,  retired Air Force General Gregory Touhill will be the first appointee to fill the position.    The article discussed the move as part of the Obama administration’s overall greater policy to bolster cybersecurity.    The position was created at the same time the President asked for $19 billion for cybersecurity earlier this year.   The full text of the article can be found here.untitled
  • Oversight Committee rips agency for data breach (The Hill):   An article late last week discussed a Congressional Oversight panel’s conclusions after an investigation into hacks last year (full report can be found on the right).   The article  said that the hacks that led to stolen data on over 20 million people were easily preventable.    A required two-factor identification process was not utilized by OPM, the report said.   According to the article, failing to use this process not only led to the hacks, but broke the law.  The full text of the article can be found here.
  • Top Officials Want to Split Cyber Command from NSA (NBC News):  A report from NBC says that top officials in the Obama Administration want to separate two major cyber military agencies.   The NSA, the spying arm, and Cyber Command, which develops and uses cyber weapons, would function better as separate entities, the article said.  A similar proposal came up in the past, but was never implemented.   While the two agencies have similar functions, they operate in very different spheres and have different authorities.   The full text of the article can be found here.

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