The Obama administration has unveiled a national strategy meant to help agencies, companies and individuals bolster defense of their computer systems and sensitive data, the Christian Science Monitor reported Tuesday.Sara Sorcher writes President Barack Obama’s proposed $19 billion cybersecurity budget for fiscal 2017 includes $3.1 billion for government information technology modernization efforts as part of the Cybersecurity National Action Plan.
“We’re going to prioritize applications in federal agencies that have a high cybersecurity challenge,” U.S. Chief Information Officer Tony Scott was quoted as saying.
The White House also plans to appoint a federal chief information security officer to coordinate data security efforts at civilian agencies, Sorcher reports.
According to the Washington Post, the CNAP also calls for the formation of a new commission to recommend cybersecurity strategies on a national basis and the introduction of a campaign to encourage the public to adopt two-factor authentication and other anti-hacking methods.
The Obama administration seeks to establish the $3.1-billion revolving IT modernization fund at the General Services Administration, according to a story by Nextgov’s Jack Moore.
If approved by Congress, the fund would support incremental efforts to replace legacy government applications that have encountered significant security issues and are expensive to maintain, Moore reports.
