Dave Powner and Mark Peters, respectively an executive director and a cyber specialist at Mitre, said they believe Congress should align proposed legislation to reform the Federal Information Security Modernization Act with cybersecurity priorities and strategies from the White House.
“The top area where Congress and the administration need to align is zero-trust implementation,” Powner and Peters wrote in a joint guest piece for Nextgov published Friday.
They noted a codification of zero trust principles would drive a sustainable and consistent approach to cybersecurity across the federal government and urged lawmakers to simplify auditing, reporting and oversight of security practices at agencies.
Powner and Peters cited an October 2021 technical paper that suggested eight ways government could transform system implementation, maintenance and protection.
“As H.R. 6497 moves toward the floor, there are opportunities to incorporate these recommendations into the bill and to work for their inclusion into any negotiated conference bill.”
They added that cyber defense, supply chain risk management and threat-hunting efforts are key to improving the prevention and detection of security incidents in the government.