In an ongoing effort to address this national priority, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) invited cybersecurity expert Melissa Hathaway to serve as the featured guest speaker at the Institute's Caucus Luncheon on November 12 in Washington, DC. Ms. Hathaway discussed recent developments in cybersecurity policy and addressed the potential challenges of an overarching policy emerging from Congress in the next two years.
Ms. Hathaway is president of Hathaway Global Strategies, LLC, and senior advisor at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center. She formerly served as senior director for cyberspace at the National Security Council under the Obama administration, where she led the 60-Day Cyberspace Policy Review. She also served as cyber coordination executive and director of the Joint Interagency Cyber Task Force in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence during President George W. Bush's administration.
Quoting U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Ms. Hathaway noted that while e-commerce has become a multi-trillion dollar industry, it ultimately lacks internationally accepted best practices and standards that help businesses identify and curb cybersecurity risks.
Continued public-private sector cooperation, Ms. Hathaway stressed, is critical to developing a reliable, resilient, and trusted digital infrastructure. She commended ANSI and the Internet Security Alliance (ISA) for their work in developing The Financial Management of Cyber Risk, a framework for organizations to use in managing and reducing the financial risk related to cyber attacks. The document, supported by premium sponsor Symantec alongside partner sponsors Direct Computer Resources, Inc. and Phillips Nizer, is set up as an action guide for CFOs and offered as a free resource for organizations nationwide. To download the document, visit webstore.ansi.org/cybersecurity. [see related news item]
Ms. Hathaway also called for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to partner with industry to establish cybersecurity solutions within corporate governance requirements, communications, and global consumer protection efforts.
A photo slideshow of the event is available here.