Christopher Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and a 2020 Wash100 Award winner, said CISA plans to put an end to using Social Security numbers as identification to help address security concerns facing citizens, Nextgov reported Wednesday.

“What are the things we can do down the road to help ensure that we have a more secure identity? Move away from the Social Security number as an identification element,” he said Tuesday during a keynote interview at the RSA cybersecurity conference.

The Department of Homeland Security’s CISA is collaborating with industry executives from a presidential advisory committee that released the 2018 moonshot report, which cites the need for a shift in identity paradigm and seeks to advance internet security.

“We work with a range of partners, including the President’s National Security and Telecommunications Advisory [Committee] to look at what are alternative identity management opportunities,” Krebs said.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has released an annual report detailing the steps taken to implement the American Artificial Intelligence Initiative launched in February 2019 through an executive order.

The initiative calls for federal investments in AI research and development. To implement the policy, the administration updated its strategic plan for AI-related R&D efforts, came up with the 2016–2019 progress report on the advancement of R&D work on AI and the fiscal year 2021 budget proposal to double the amount of non-defense R&D spending on AI by FY 2022.

Another key policy of the initiative is to unleash AI resources. In support of the effort, the Office of Management and Budget released in December the final draft of the Federal Data Strategy to outline best practices and principles concerning data use and management.

OSTP also cited other measures the administration has carried out to further advance AI, including the issuance of the proposed AI regulatory principles, the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s launch of a strategy for federal engagement in the development of AI technical standards and establishment of an AI-focused center of excellence by the General Services Administration.

The Federal Communications Commission has started collecting information from telecommunications firms receiving Universal Service funds with regard to their use of services and equipment from Chinese firms Huawei and ZTE in their networks.

The FCC said Wednesday that it will use the collected data to design a program to reimburse telecom carriers as they replace those equipment and services as well as inform other potential measures to safeguard the communications supply chain.

The commission will determine whether the companies use equipment from the two Chinese firms, the type of services and equipment and costs related to product procurement and installation and costs associated with the replacement of those services and systems.

Telecom carriers getting Universal Service Funds have until April 22 to submit information.

John Demers, assistant attorney general for national security, has said that following the Australian and U.K. government’s examples will help the U.S. balance data privacy rights while improving law enforcement procedures, Nextgov reported Tuesday.

Demers told reporters ahead of the RSA Conference that rights to privacy and warranted government access to encrypted data “can coexist” and the Department of Justice supports flexible approaches to help entities like the Department of Defense.

He cited laws in Australia, which allow agencies to issue interception requests to communications providers. The U.K. also permits public-sector entities to intercept communications for national security purposes.

“I don't mean to suggest that there should be some encryption that's very encrypted, and something that's less encrypted or anything like that,” said Demers. “What I mean to say is everything should be strongly encrypted but there should be a way for the government to get access to that data with a court order.”

Christopher Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and 2020 Wash100 Award winner, has said that the agency is coordinating with government and industry stakeholders to address cyber threats like ransomware, FCW reported Tuesday.

Krebs told attendees at the RSA Conference in San Francisco that CISA is reaching out to local governments, federal agencies, businesses and operators of critical infrastructure to discuss data encryption practices to better defend systems against nation-state hacking groups and other malicious actors.

He said that organizations should take proactive steps such as patching their technologies, enabling multifactor authentication, developing an incident response plan and establishing a backup strategy.

“For years and years and years, particularly in the federal government, we’ve been focused on the nation-state adversary, the highly capable, the big four: Russia, China, Iran [and] North Korea,” said Krebs. “I think we’ve been a little bit late to the game on ransomware.”

Krebs also said that having a public communication plan as well as analog and paper-based backups will help ensure preparedness in this year’s presidential election.