The Department of Homeland Security will deploy a new algorithm built to monitor system vulnerabilities and baseline configuration settings across the federal government to give an agency an overall rating on its cyber hygiene, Nextgov reported Wednesday.
DHS integrated the Agency-Wide Adaptive Risk Enumeration algorithm in new cybersecurity tools provided through its Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program.Â
AWARE sends data to a centralized dashboard at the agency, which operators then use to compile cyber scores to see how each agency maintains its cybersecurity.Â
“We’ll be able to have a scale as to what agencies are doing well, what agencies might need some additional support and help get us a sense of one of the most important factors in combating the threat: basic cyber hygiene — getting things patched, getting things configured,†said Kevin Cox, CDM program manager at DHS.
AWARE is still in the development phase and DHS plans to add guidelines on how agencies will compare their cyber hygiene to others.Â
The agency plans to roll out the program in the second and third quarters of fiscal year 2019 and to reach full production in early fiscal 2020.
