Dave Nyczepir
The compromise of at least seven federal agencies through the SolarWinds hack has technology experts stressing the importance of a national cyber director (NCD) role within the incoming Biden administration.
President-elect Joe Biden is expected to appoint the first-ever NCD, a position the National Defense Authorization Act of 2021 will create, after taking office Jan. 20.
The role could prove instrumental in preparing for future emergencies like the one at SolarWinds — one of the most serious incidents of digital espionage in U.S. history — by ensuring more even implementation of the National Cyber Strategy across departments, experts say.
“An NCD doesn’t guarantee you don’t have a cyber hack, either one that does damage or an espionage hack like this,” Mark Montgomery, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told FedScoop. “However, what we think an NCD will do is significantly raise the overall readiness of the federal agencies in cybersecurity and ensure that there’s better…
