From Our Pages to the President's Lips

President Barack Obama wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday detailing what he believes is the government's best course of action for protecting against cyber attacks and strengthening the nation's cyber-security defenses.

The program, dubbed the Cybersecurity National Action Plan (really thinking outside the box with that name), will be powered by $19 billion in federal funding the president is proposing for the fiscal year 2017 budget. The additional investment is a 35-percent increase from the amount of funding allotted to cyber security this year. A big chunk of that is also going directly to technology, as Obama is proposing a $3.1 billion information technology modernization fund.

[Side note: The sneaky funny part of the op-ed is that at the end of the article the WSJ put this in italics: Mr. Obama is the president of the United States. Honestly, who is reading the WSJ op-ed section that doesn't know Obama is the president? I get you're doing your due diligence as an editor, but understand your demographic for this one time, WSJ.]

Fan of the Program

First, I'd remiss if I said I wasn't a little disappointed that the president chose not to publish his op-ed on WatersTechnology.com. After all, way back in April 2015, we ran an entire issue dedicated to cyber security. Still, we're a bit more of a niche publication than WSJ and they might have us beat a bit on circulation, so I'll let it slide.

And while the President might not have chosen us to run his op-ed, he's clearly a big reader of ours (I'll have to confirm this with our subscriptions department). The reason I say this is because three of his points detailing the plan have to do with features/columns that have appeared on WatersTechnology over the past year.

Obama's very first point discusses how the plan will spend over $3 billion on upgrading and replacing the government's legacy technology. It turns out, according to Obama, the Social Security Administration uses systems and code from the 1960s! I think it's fair to say a few things have changed since then when it comes to protecting information.

As part of that initial point, Obama says the government is creating a chief information security officer (CISO) position, which gets me back to why our president is such a loyal WatersTechnology reader. Naturally, he must have read my April feature in which I detailed the rise of the CISO position at firms across the buy and sell sides.

Obama's very next point is also plucked straight from the pages of WatersTechnology. The president details the importance of bringing in young professionals to help the government improve its cyber security. He says he's even willing to let them wear jeans in the office, which, to be honest, shows how outdated the government is. Everyone knows jogger sweatpants are all the rage with kids nowadays.

Wouldn't you know it, back in July I wrote a feature discussing the different struggles and tactics firms use to try and hire good, young technologists. I'm not saying the president stole all of our ideas, but sometimes a little bit of credit goes a long way, especially when it's coming from the most powerful man in the world.

Finally, Obama's fourth point touches on how the government is pushing to launch a national awareness campaign around cyber threats. He talks about the importance of moving beyond passwords.

Now, this might be a bit of a stretch, but in my column detailing New Year's resolutions for the industry, I did talk about how I felt firms needed to change employee's behaviors, in addition to creating solutions. Granted, what he said might not be exactly in step with what I said, but you can see where he got the inspiration for it.

This One's For You

So, to wrap things up, I'd like to address the president directly, since I know he's reading this.

Mr. President,

I'm a big fan of what you're looking to do in the cyber-security space. I think these are all necessary changes for not just those in financial services, but corporations all over the world. As we've seen before, it's usually that second or third party that's responsible for the initial hack that lets in the intruder. If everyone, across the board, raises their game then we will all be in better shape. With that being said, would it kill you to give us a footnote next time? I'm not asking for a direct reference, just something in the back indexes giving us some love. I'd also be willing to settle for something from Air Force One, if that's easier. Big fan of the movie and the plane.

Thanks for your time.

Best,

Dan

P.S.- Before you leave, can you consider making the Monday after the Super Bowl a federal holiday? Not trying to tell you how to do your job. Just an idea.

Food for Thought

• We are closing in on the deadline for submitting your entries for the Sell-Side Technology Awards. Submissions need to be in by Friday, Feb. 19, end of business, EST. The actual awards will take place on April 21 in New York and will be preceded by the North American Trading and Architecture Summit. Click here to start your entry.

• US editor Anthony Malakian and I are still plugging away on our weekly podcast. We post it every Thursday afternoon. The most recent episode touches on the dark pool fines levied against Barclays and Credit Suisse, the SEC, and enterprise risk analytics. If you'd like to get notified on whenever a new episode has been uploaded, subscribe to us on our SoundCloud page here. We also have made it onto iTunes. You can find us by searching for "WatersTechnology" in the iTunes store. Happy listening.

• Once again, I am a man willing to admit defeat. I put all my eggs in Cam Newton's basket and now I have no eggs. All I can say is good for Peyton for riding off into the sunset with a Super Bowl win. He certainly earned it with all those touchdown passes he threw in that game...oh wait.

Like the column? Hate the column? Let me know via email (dan.defrancesco@incisivemedia.com) or Twitter (@dandefrancesco).