Last week at Black Hat 2015 in Las Vegas, NV, DHS Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas gave a keynote address on closing the “trust deficit” between industry and government, highlighting the need to rebuild trust after a government security breach. This week, Fuel Board Member John Matelski, Chief Innovation & Information Officer of the Dekalb County, GA Government, responds with his thoughts on how best to repair a loss of trust after a breach like the one affecting the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

by John Matelski

Another day, and yet another cyber hack! As someone who works for a county government agency, I know all too well the daily challenges that are faced maintaining a secure infrastructure, and protecting citizen and constituent data. The unfortunate reality is, as our society becomes more digitally enabled and reliant, we are creating more avenues through which criminals can access our data.

Though the cases that make the news are the big ones like the IRS data breach, or the Sony hack – our reality is the attacks against small businesses, local governments and individuals are the ones that impact us the most. Many times, businesses that are successfully targeted by a cyber-attack go out of business soon thereafter. They simply do not have the resources to respond and recover.

by Fuel HQ

In February 2014 the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released a Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity to help security organizations better protect information and physical assets from cyber attacks. The framework provided a structure that organizations, regulators and customers can use to improve comprehensive cybersecurity programs. Even though the Framework was released last year, the conversations continue about whether it is effective or if it is dynamic enough to handle changes in the landscape.

by Kate Taylor

It seems that folks interested in cybersecurity fall into two camps: those holding their breath for government to step in and protect the public from cybercriminals through regulation, and those crossing their fingers that the legislative branch will continue to create cybersecurity awareness but ultimately leave it to the professionals.