October 2, 2015
Today the Department of Defense announced that it will soon require all of its contractors to report any major cybersecurity breaches. And if your first question is, why in the hell didn’t they require that before?, that’s a great question.
The move comes after a tough few months for US government officials and their data. The head of the Office of Personnel Management resigned after it was revealed that over 22 million government personnel had their sensitive information scooped up–everything from security clearances to 5.6 million sets of fingerprints.
But the Department of Defense, under constant attack itself, wants to make sure that its contractors are keeping it in the loop on any cyberattacks. Until now, contractors used a voluntary system to report serious breaches of various kinds.