Give the CIO Council your best cybersecurity ideas
Have an idea on how to dramatically improve the government’s security posture?
ACT-IAC, a federal technology private-public partnership group, wants to gather input from government, industry and academia to help U.S. Chief Information Officer Tony Scott and the CIO Council solve some of the biggest issues in federal cybersecurity.
The group launched its cybersecurity innovation initiative this week using IdeaScale, a popular online crowdsourcing tool, to solicit “ideas on underutilized or new measures that have real potential to improve the Government’s operational security on a day-to-day basis,” according to the website.
The initiative poses eight questions in different areas involving cybersecurity, like cyber fundamentals, the search for talent and the speed of a breach response.
This new effort comes as the federal government, overwhelmed by two massive breaches at the Office of Personnel Management that affected more than 22 million people, looks for ways to strengthen its cybersecurity protections.
“Today, as the nation is facing more security breaches than ever before, it is vital that government and industry executives work together to strengthen the government’s cybersecurity posture,” Kenneth Allen, ACT-IAC’s executive director, said in a statement. “ACT-IAC’s extensive track record of bringing together the experience, expertise and creative energy of leaders in both government and industry perfectly positions our organization to lead this collaborative effort.”
Ultimately, ACT-IAC will issue a report to the CIO Council and the Office of Management and Budget by Sept. 30 based on the findings of the initiative. Then, it intends to release a public report. The initiative is open to comments until Aug. 28.
ACT-IAC frequently serves as a bridge between the tech industry, acquisition communities, the greater public and federal agencies. Currently, the organization is leading a project to help OMB and agencies best follow the requirements of the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act.
