Dive Brief:
- Speaking at the Nextgov Prime conference Wednesday, federal CIO Tony Scott said much of the tech used by the federal government is too outdated to handle today’s cyber threats, CIO reports.
- Scott said agencies must work with industry partners to modernize government systems and improve security.
- Other federal government leaders are echoing Scott’s plea to private industry to help it improve cyber security and prevent incidents such as the recent massive data breach at the Department of Personnel Management.
Dive Insight:
U.S. CIO Tony Scott said it would be impossible to take “fundamentally flawed components” that exist in many of today’s federal computer systems and create secure systems. Scott, who worked at tech companies including Vmware and Microsoft before joining the federal government in February of this year, said recent incidents at federal agencies have happened because the “fundamentals are not taken care of.”
"The good news is I think we are making progress," said Scott. "The bad news is incidents that do occur mostly occur because we failed at even the most basic preventative measures."
Speaking at another conference on Wednesday, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said the DOD may soon offer rapid seed money to encourage more collaboration between government and the private sector on technology projects that would help it improve security.
