Here we are 10 years later and agencies continue to struggle to secure their information.

There have been memos and policies calling for encryption of data at rest, data in motion and the use of two-factor authentication to keep the data that resides on those networks and in those applications more secure.

But as we’ve seen time and again with the long list of breaches, whether it’s the Office of Personnel Management or commercial firms such as Target, the hackers are going after the unsecured data, many times exploiting known vulnerabilities.

The current cyber environment has evolved over the last decade to focus more on data security.

Over the last year, we know agencies have been focused on protecting high-valued data assets as part of the post-OPM breach cyber sprint.

Commerce Department chief information security officer Rod Turk said recently his agency has reviewed 18 of 62 high-valued assets so far. He said the reviews of the other 44 are in progress.

That’s just one example of the change we have seen over the last year when it comes to the data-centric approach to security.

So what can agencies do to better secure their data? What are some basic and advanced steps to make data more difficult for hackers to steal?

For government agencies who are feeling the weight of an increase in targeted cyber threats and their related policies, Adobe delivers data-centric cyber defense that moves beyond the perimeter, the hardware, and even the device.  The result is comprehensive protection at the data level that moves with the mission.

Moderator

Jason Miller, Federal News Radio

Jason Miller is an executive editor and reporter with Federal News Radio. As executive editor, Jason helps direct the news coverage of the station and works with reporters to ensure a broad range of coverage of federal technology, procurement, finance and human resource news.As a reporter, Jason focuses mainly on technology and procurement issues, including cybersecurity, e-government and acquisition policies and programs.

Guests

The Honorable Michael Chertoff, Former Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, Adobe Public Sector Advisor

As Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from 2005 to 2009, Michael Chertoff led the country in blocking would-be terrorists from crossing our borders or implementing their plans if they were already in the country. He also transformed FEMA into an effective organization following Hurricane Katrina. His greatest successes have earned few headlines – because the important news is what didn’t happen.

At The Chertoff Group, Mr. Chertoff provided high-level strategic counsel to corporate and government leaders on a broad range of security issues, from risk identification and prevention to preparedness, response and recovery. “Risk management has become the CEO’s concern,” he says. “We help our clients develop comprehensive strategies to manage risk without building barriers that get in the way of carrying on their business.”

Before heading up the Department of Homeland Security, Mr. Chertoff served as a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Earlier, during more than a decade as a federal prosecutor, he investigated and prosecuted cases of political corruption, organized crime, corporate fraud and terrorism – including the investigation of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Mr. Chertoff is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College (1975) and Harvard Law School (1978). From 1979-1980 he served as a clerk to Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, Jr.

In addition to his role at The Chertoff Group, Mr. Chertoff is also senior of counsel at Covington & Burling LLP, and a member of the firm’s White Collar Defense and Investigations practice group.

John Landwehr, Public Sector CTO at Adobe

John Landwehr is the Adobe Public Sector CTO. His team is responsible for solutions incorporating electronic documents, digital media, web content management, analytics, information assurance and collaboration technologies to support business efficiency and optimization; training and mission readiness; content security; and citizen and force engagement.

John has been with Adobe for over a dozen years, working across numerous enterprise product lines, including Acrobat and LiveCycle. His team developed solutions for secure collaboration and information security for protecting intellectual property, homeland security and privacy-related information for government, commercial and education markets. Innovations include 1) the Certified Document program to facilitate authentic electronic documents with digitalsignatures,2) enterprise rights management to persistently protect sensitive content and 3) the first Adobe iPhone and Blackberry applications providing forms and workflow approvals to mobile users.

John’s expertise includes product management, product marketing and business development related to application servers, operating systems, enterprise applications, hosted services, mobile applications, PKI, identity management and encryption technologies. He has provided testimony to Congress, issued multiple security-related patents and held positions at NeXT and Apple. The Certified Information Systems Security Professional is a graduate of Northwestern University.

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