US Presidential Debate Downplays Importance Of Cyber-Security

Following the news about US presidential election debate, where Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump discussed their perspectives and approaches to cybersecurity, Richard Stiennon, Chief Strategy Officer at Blancco Technology Group commented below.

Richard Stiennon, Chief Strategy Officer at Blancco Technology Group:

“At face value, it’s somewhat of a positive sign that Clinton and Trump are at least aware there are serious issues with ’the cyber’ (in Trump’s words). But based on their answers, it appears as though they aren’t personally conversant with the issues and the technologies that are required to reduce data/cyber security risks and threats. In particular, I noticed neither candidate made any mention of critical infrastructures and NIST’s cybersecurity framework. And I’m a bit surprised and disheartened to hear that neither candidate has put forth any proposals for how the government will take on more responsibility for cyber defence. I’m also sceptical that neither candidate has mentioned the need to define roles for the military and DHS.

Whether it’s Clinton or Trump who becomes the next US President, I hope America’s new leader will quickly surround themselves and their cabinets/supporting teams with a group of IT, data and cyber security experts from various industries (public and private) and policy makers to start making the necessary changes to improve cyber security as a whole.”