Cybersecurity is not something; it is everything

[Commentary] Four years ago, the Obama Administration rolled out the Cybersecurity Framework from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). It has proven to be an essential and indispensable roadmap for companies to review their cybersecurity risk and preparedness. Recently, NIST updated the document to reflect supply chain risk and additional security insights. The anniversary of the NIST Framework should be a time to celebrate the federal government’s preparation for the cyber threats to the critical infrastructure of our communications networks. The Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and intelligence community have all stepped up. Unfortunately, the agency responsible for the commercial networks that connect us, the Federal Communications Commission, is AWOL on cyber. It is a policy gap so great that the National Security Council recently found it important to propose their own solutions for the security of next generation wireless networks. The Trump FCC has taken a laissez faire approach to its cyber responsibility. The Chairman has previously described the FCC’s cyber role as “relatively circumscribed” and spoke in opposition to “uniform rules that would apply to an entire industry.” In testimony before the Senate, Republican Commissioner Michael O’Reilly described the FCC’s cyber authority as “extremely limited.” This is not what the law provides, however. 

[Tom Wheeler served as the 31st Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission from 2013-2017]