Cybersecurity Onus on Tech Firms, White House Official Says

(TNS) — Tech companies must take more responsibility for designing systems that safeguard users’ data, a top White House cybersecurity official said in San Antonio, where he also urged students to consider federal jobs in the industry.

The top priority of the National Cybersecurity Strategy is removing the onus for cybersecurity from individuals, Jake Braun, the acting principal deputy national cyber director, said Friday during Texas A&M San Antonio’s “Tech Fiesta.”

“The big tech companies who actually build all of our technology and are more resourced to do cybersecurity than having my father or 13-year-old twins be the single point of failure where, if they click on the wrong link, all of a sudden all their personal information is compromised,” he said.

The administration’s strategy also calls for long-term investments in the industry.

“What we’ve been doing for about 40 years is bolting cybersecurity onto all the stuff we’ve built … and bolting cyber on on the back-end is, as we found out, not really the most efficient way to do cybersecurity,” Braun said.

The strategy plays into President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda, a $1.8 trillion spending package that’s comprised of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Chips and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. As an example, Braun said the legislation led to a $20 million federal investment to modernize the power grid in San Antonio, an effort that includes bolstering the system’s cybersecurity.

“What we’re hoping that folks all around the country in the cyber industry see when they see these projects being implemented is the opportunity for cyber to be to be implemented,” he said. “As you’re seeing these projects unfolding … in your community, we’re hoping that you’re reaching out to the people who win the contracts to implement these programs … to say ‘Hey, how do we help participate in these programs to ensure cybersecurity is baked in on the front end?’ and these investments are made secure by design, as opposed to us having to come and do cyber 20 years after all these projects are built.”

The key to their approach is a strong workforce.

“It’s great to have a strategy. It’s great to have resources,” Braun said, “but we can’t do any of that if we don’t have a workforce to actually do the work of baking cyber on the front end of all these projects.”

His office recently launched a “Tech Hiring Sprint” for jobs with federal agencies around the country, including in San Antonio. He said the approach streamlines the process for applicants “so that you don’t have to write 50 different resumes for 50 different agencies,” adding there are currently 36,000 cyber job vacancies in Texas including 4,500 in San Antonio.

About 100 people attended the Friday afternoon event.

Freshman Eirik Marquez emceed the event and said he hoped it would raise the profile of TAMUSA’s cybersecurity programs.

“We’re trying to scale our programs,” he said. “I feel everyone knows about UTSA, but we’re also one of the schools in San Antonio that has a cybersecurity bachelor’s” degree.

Jeong Yang, director of the university’s Center for Information Technology and Cyber Security, said Braun’s visit was helping raise the profile of the program.

“Many people are not aware of the existence of our program, but I think this is a turning point,” she said.

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