A data breach at the Department of Veterans Affairs is the latest in the long line of cyber events in the Federal government. Jane Holl Lute is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Council on Cybersecurity, and former Deputy Secretary of the Homeland Security Department. In her Top 3 for 2015, she writes low cost, basic cybersecurity prevents 80 percent to 90 percent of all known attacks. On In Depth with Francis Rose, she explained whether or not she’s confident that equation will stay the same this year since incentives for the bad guys will continue to grow.

Jane Holl Lute’s Top 3 for 2015

1. The cybersecurity industry will be transformed as a result of much wider adoption of relatively low cost basic cybersecurity hygiene, which has already shown to prevent 80 to 90 percent of all known attacks. As enterprises realize that they can neither continue to avoid the need to take action nor simply buy their way out of the problem, they — and their customers — will demand to know in clear terms what the most important things every enterprise should do to reduce their attack surface. This demand will drive the adoption of essential cyber hygiene and begin to force major changes in the marketplace.
2. The entertainment industry will lead a major effort to reconcile the need — again, probably through legislation — for security with privacy concerns. Currently, the privacy community, along with existing federal and state privacy regulations, make automated security (detection, mitigation) exceedingly difficult for every enterprise not operating in a field with mandatory provisions for security. The Sony breach will trigger a major push for legislation to resolve this tension. “Privacy by design” will emerge as the solution of choice.
3. UN peace operations in the field will expand with at least one new or significantly expanded mission in Africa and one in the Middle East. At the moment, no country has an answer for the phenomenon known as ISIS. As governments muddle through a strategic response to this problem, multilateral operations through the UN will emerge to address the associated violence and humanitarian fallout.

In our special radio report, Top 3 for 2015, federal experts tell In Depth host Francis Rose what top three concepts, trends or priorities they believe will be important in 2015.

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