The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) recently submitted input to the General Services Administration (GSA) in response to its request for information on improving cybersecurity and resilience through acquisition, which GSA issued to inform its implementation of President Obama’s February 2013-issued Executive Order 13636 (“Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity”).
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In the filing, TIA supplied answers to numerous key questions related to cybersecurity and the federal acquisition system. Generally, TIA urged that GSA proceed in its development of recommendations to the President guided by the following principles:
(1) That successful efforts to improve cybersecurity will leverage public-private partnerships to effectively collaborate on addressing current and emerging threats;
(2) That the U.S. government should enable and stimulate greater cyber threat information sharing between the public and private sector;
(3) That policymakers and regulators should ensure that they address economic barriers for owners and operators of critical infrastructure in efforts to secure cyberspace;
(4) That federal research funding for ICT and specifically cybersecurity research and development should be prioritized;
(5) That the global nature of the ICT industry necessarily requires a global approach to address cybersecurity concerns; and
(6) That a global supply chain can only be secured through an industry-driven adoption of best practices and global standards.
See also: U.S. Senators call for executive order to boost cybersecurity of nation's critical infrastructure