Anthony D'Esposito Urges Congress To Take Up 'Short-Term Solutions' To 'Guard Against Cyber Attacks'

5 months ago

During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing prior to the Congressional recess, Rep. Anthony D'Esposito (R-NY) questioned witnesses about cyber security for remote federal workers, and cyber security training programs.

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00:00I now recognize the gentleman from New York, Mr. D'Esposito, for five minutes of questioning.

00:05Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you all for being here this, I guess now this

00:08afternoon.

00:12I guess right now almost 85% of federal cyber positions are telework eligible.

00:18While I don't always agree with everyone working from home, obviously it's a reality that we

00:23are all dealing with.

00:28Obviously it's something that CISA has leveraged.

00:30So Mr. Heisen, how does DHS ensure that there are strong cybersecurity practices upheld

00:39for the remote workforce?

00:41Thank you, Congressman.

00:42It's been something that has been a new and evolving challenge since the beginning of

00:47the COVID-19 pandemic.

00:49We have updated our annual required cybersecurity trainings for all employees to make sure that

00:54they are incorporating safe cybersecurity practices for telework and remote work.

01:02Among other things, that includes things like thinking about and being aware of smart devices

01:06that are in your workspace that may be recording, as well as looking at the security of your

01:12home network.

01:13We will continue to do that.

01:14Okay.

01:15Now I'm going to take it a little bit closer to home.

01:17Unfortunately, on Long Island, where both Mr. Garbarino and myself, Mr. Laloda, Mr.

01:23Razzi represent, we have witnessed successful cyber attacks that have greatly disrupted

01:28not only local government, but obviously the quality of life for the people that we serve.

01:33And it's clear that both the public and the private sector are having issues with filling

01:38all of the cybersecurity roles that are currently open.

01:41So this is really for any of you.

01:44How do these workforce issues extend to an impact, like I mentioned, local municipalities

01:50and leave them open to an attack such as the one I referred to?

01:55I can say I think we see those challenges every day through our work, largely through

02:00CISA with state and local governments.

02:03It's one of the reasons why when we developed our new state and local cybersecurity grant

02:09program, which launched two years ago, we made developing state and local cybersecurity

02:14workforce a key element that we are looking for municipalities and state governments to

02:20apply for funding for.

02:23I was also excited to see the newly released Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies

02:29Appropriations Bill.

02:31There was funding that I requested for an updated IT system for the Nassau County Police

02:36Department to help them prevent from future cybersecurity attacks.

02:41Bolstering our systems is obviously one thing that, again, those local municipalities can

02:46do to guard against cyber attacks.

02:49What are some of the, and this is again for any of you, what are some of the short-term

02:52solutions for these localities that us as Congress can work towards to help our cyber

03:00workforce?

03:01Thank you so much for that question.

03:05I think registered apprenticeship, it's one way to do it because it allows people with

03:10the potential to do the work to also learn on the job.

03:13One of the things that we want to make sure is that we have those quality pathways, and

03:18then we also have, we can then match folks who are interested to do the work where we

03:24need it to be.

03:26The other option is cyber clinics.

03:28We have funded four cyber clinics so far from the federal government.

03:35Cyber clinics as a clinic model allows students who are in college today to also practice

03:41those skills and have those hands-on experience while helping the public, in this case private

03:49and local government as well.

03:53And the cyber clinics that you referenced, how do you do the outreach, or is that funding

04:01that's provided to an organization, or how is the outreach to get individuals onto those

04:08clinics?

04:09Right now it's done on a cyber clinic by cyber clinic basis, and then that's where we kind

04:15of come in.

04:16We're trying to kind of make sure that everyone is coordinated and make sure that as part

04:20of the cyber clinic they reach out to their students to get more students, as well as

04:25each cyber clinic sort of have their own mission.

04:29And for us it's to kind of influence the mission, make sure that they, you know, serve

04:35a particular constituency that we need them to be.

04:37And how has the attendance, so to speak, been to the first four clinics that you've supported?

04:43We just started that funding so, you know, I can take that back for the record and perhaps

04:48provide your office with that information.

04:50That'd be great.

04:52With that, my time's expired.

04:53Mr. Chairman, I yield back.

04:54The gentleman yields back.

04:55We are going to now, I'm going to start a second round because I can't.

Anthony D'Esposito Urges Congress To Take Up 'Short-Term Solutions' To 'Guard Against Cyber Attacks'

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