Federal Taskforce To Focus On Cybersecurity Metrics

The US government plans to introduce standard metrics for measuring the effectiveness of its cybersecurity efforts by the end of the year. The move, announced by federal CIO Vivek Kundra, along with the CIOs of the Navy and Department of Justice, comes at a time where the Federal Information Security Management Act, the government's main cybersecurity regulation, has been criticized for being inadequate and incomplete in terms of performance measurement. In order to develop the standards, the government has established the Security Metrics Taskforce, which will draw on best practices from federal agencies and the private sector. The task force includes representatives of the Federal CIO Council, Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, National Institute of Standards and Health, Homeland Security, Department of Defense, Director of National Intelligence, Government Accountability Office, and the Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board. It met for the first time on September 17 and expects to release draft metrics by the end of November.