Politics, bad luck and lack of maturity have hampered DHS

As the lead agency for securing dot-gov resources, the Homeland Security Department has a mandate to stop malware from getting into government networks and keep bad things from happening, a job it has not yet sorted out how to do, said Greg Garcia, former DHS cybersecurity chief. A key element of this task will be the third phase of the Einstein network monitoring system, an intrusion prevention system that faces multiple challenges. "They are still working through it," he said recently. "It is a complicated technical question with an overlay of political and privacy issues that delays the development of the architecture." Despite the challenges and false steps made by DHS in its cybersecurity initiatives, Garcia said he is confident the department can grow into its mission.