The first 100 days of a presidential administration serve as an important introduction to how the next four years might play out. Along with learning how the new administration governs, significant attention should be paid to the people, policies and technology priorities shaping the White House agenda as they look to make their mark on government and the country.
While the Trump administration’s first 100 days will bring about a number of notable policies and changes, one area that we are keenly interested in is cybersecurity. The government continues to be under constant attack from adversaries, both known and unknown, as a result of external and internal vulnerabilities. Not only do they want our information and our secrets, but to remove the technology backbone that enables government to run effectively and serve its citizens.
In the last few years, we’ve seen the importance of cybersecurity. The breach at the Office of Personnel Management continues to impact the federal government technologically and financially (stay tuned for our next blog on this topic). The same is true elsewhere in the public sector. State and local governments find themselves under constant attack and school systems must somehow protect the mountain of personally identifiable student information they house. Recently, state governments, like those in South Carolina and Utah, saw themselves the victims of major breaches. And schools, like the University of Maryland, lost tens of thousands of student records.
This is not to point blame at any of these organizations. Far from it. Instead, it is to learn and look at the seriousness of cybersecurity. As technology becomes an even bigger part of the government’s mission delivery, poor cybersecurity has the ability to disrupt all of our lives like never before. The Obama administration made great strides in protecting the nation’s networks, but this is a fight that is never over. The Trump administration has been handed an environment where security is incredibly important, but one that must be maintained and improved upon – not just during the first 100 days, but for every day forward.
These first 100 days of the Trump administration will undoubtedly have an impact on the cybersecurity foundation across all segments – including federal, state, local and education markets. Join us in the coming weeks as we follow the policy, technology and personnel changes in the Trump administration, while providing our perspective on what we see as major issues in this space.
At Symantec, we work with organizations from across the world to help them secure important information. We know the importance of an administration’s first 100 days and look forward to seeing the steps the Trump administration takes to protect federal networks during this critical time of transition. The Trump administration has a great challenge ahead of itself, and we plan to look at it from all angles during this blog series. Please check back regularly for updated posts and share with your colleagues that might be fighting a similar cyber battle.