Executive Branch Activity
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity Dashboard
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to begin using a new dashboard in January 2015 that will display real-time visual data of the cybersecurity status of federal networks. The dashboard is part of DHS’s cybersecurity efforts through its Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM), which administers agency acquisitions of commercial cybersecurity tools. These efforts have been criticized in the past given the delays that have occurred with deploying this dashboard and other tools to increase the cybersecurity and resilience of federal networks. In its FY 2015 budget request, DHS requested $143 million for CDM, which is only a small part of the $6 billion government-wide effort to boost the cybersecurity posture of all federal agencies.
General Services Administration Cybersecurity Acquisition Plan
The General Services Administration (GSA) is currently in the process of reviewing the comments that it received on its draft implementation plan to improve cybersecurity and resilience through the federal acquisition process. This plan built off of the joint report on cybersecurity acquisition issues that GSA released in January, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Defense. A GSA official noted recently that they are disappointed that only 13 comments were submitted regarding the implementation plan but stated that GSA plans to release another draft plan in late summer or early fall that will be open for comment based on the previous feedback that GSA received in this round.
