PROVIDENCE – Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., co-founder and co-chair of the Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus and a senior member of the House Committees on Armed Services and Homeland Security, supports the National Institute of Standards and Technology update to the Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity. It was the initiative’s first major update, according to a press release from Langevin’s office.
President Barack Obama directed NIST to develop the Framework in 2013.
“Since its release, countless organizations have used the NIST Cybersecurity Framework to voluntarily assess their cybersecurity risk posture, identify gaps and prioritize security best practices,” Langevin said in a statement.
He mentioned the Russian government’s targeting of the U.S. election system as proof of evolving cybersecurity threats, and said the revision delivers guidelines to manage risks associated with supply chains.
“While I appreciate NIST’s decision to continue to explore ways to measure the cost-effectiveness of cybersecurity, I do believe this revision was a missed opportunity to provide more concrete guidance on ways to quantify risk,” Langevin continued. “Cybersecurity is not just a technical issue, and an understanding of the economics of controls is essential if we expect companies to adopt them voluntarily.”
Langevin thanked the NIST for its work to provide a tool to manage cybersecurity threats.
Susan Shalhoub is a PBN contributing writer.
