The federal cybersecurity landscape is seeing several shifts in terms of the people who manage, oversee and secure federal networks, systems and applications.
First, Tim Ruland, the chief information security officer at the Census Bureau, is retiring on Sept. 27.
Ruland, who has been working part-time at Census over the last few months, will leave after more than 40 years of federal service, including being in the charge of the decennial count’s cybersecurity since 1998.
He said he plans to relax and travel during retirement, but may decide to work part time or contribute to the federal community in another way.
Ruland leaves the Census at a critical time as the bureau prepares for the 2020 count. The Government Accountability Office found that Census, as of June, had reported 3,100 security weaknesses “that need to be addressed in the coming months.”
Census and the Commerce Department, more generally, recognize their cyber challenges. Commerce chief information officer Rod Turk wrote in an Aug. 31 blog post, shortly after the GAO report came out, that the “Census Bureau engages in a multi-stakeholder approach across the Federal government,…
