Schmidt Says Cybersecurity Efforts Need Improvement

Howard Schmidt

Howard Schmidt, the White House Cybersecurity Coordinator, believes that the current federal efforts to secure cyberspace, while heading in the right direction, remain inadequate, according to Federal Computer Week. Schmidt recently spoke at the Interagency Resources Management Conference where he called for greater coordination in cyber R&D, better education of U.S. students in the maths and sciences and intrusion detection for networks.

“As far as enterprise-wide intrusion detection goes, it falls under the category of, ‘Why haven’t we done that already?’ ” Schmidt said. “It’s a big point of discussion.”

Schmidt pointed out that private sector is ahead of the public sector in employing intrusion detection methods. Privacy disputes, bureaucracy and lack of agreement on implementation method have hindered public sector efforts, according to Schmidt.

He also said that the current U.S. educational system is not designed to train up-and-coming cyber professionals.

“We need to work on math and science training in our schools,” Schmidt said. “That relates directly to the future of cybersecurity.”

Finally, Schmidt cited the lack of effective coordination and communication regarding cybersecurity research and development efforts.

“There’s little coordination in cyber research and development,” he said.” Who’s doing what? Why are they doing that? How long have they been doing that? What is missing?”

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