Sen. Carper on Recent OMB Cyber Announcement

WASHINGTON – Today, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced a series of actions that aim to enhance the federal government’s cybersecurity efforts, including a new strategy to secure federal networks and new reporting guidance. Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, made the following statement in reaction to the announcement:

“Cybersecurity is one of the greatest challenges we face in the 21^st century, one that requires an all-hands-on-deck response. The results of the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) 30-Day Cyber Sprint this summer were encouraging, and I am pleased that we are continuing to build on the momentum of those efforts through the Cybersecurity Strategy Implementation Plan. The strategy released by OMB puts into practice many of the lessons learned from this summer’s Cyber Sprint, including a focus on timely detection and rapid response to cyber incidents.  It is essential that we have a long-term vision to get to an acceptable level of cybersecurity within the federal government. 

“I am also pleased to see that this strategy comes on the heels of efforts to update OMB’s Circular A-130 guidance, something that has not happened since 2000. The Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) of 2014, the bill I shepherded through last Congress alongside former-Senator Tom Coburn, required OMB to update this core guidance to cut back on unnecessary paperwork and move toward real-time monitoring of security by December of this year. The inclusion of these and other important provisions from FISMA 2014 in the recent OMB guidance sends a strong signal that progress is being made on a number of fronts toward securing our federal cyber networks. But there is still more work to be done. The threats we face in cyber space continue to grow and evolve each day, and we need to continue working to stay ahead of our adversaries.”

For more details on the announcement, please visit: https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/10/30/modernizing-federal-cybersecurity.