Incident & Breach Response , Security Operations

SolarWinds Breach Response: 'Shields Up'

Ex-Federal CISO Gregory Touhill on the Need for Improving Cyber Deterrence Strategy
Gen. Gregory Touhill (ret.), First U.S. CISO & president, Appgate Federal

He was the first U.S. federal CISO, and before that he was an Air Force general. So when Gregory Touhill reacts to the coordinated supply chain attack on SolarWinds, he does so in military terms. His message to the global cybersecurity community: “Shields up.”

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Touhill, now president of Appgate Federal, says this breach is a call to arms. “We need to be looking for further activity – not only in IT, but in operational technology, industrial controls systems and, arguably, in the code that is running a lot of our internet of things devices.”

In this video interview with Information Security Media Group, Touhill discusses:

  • The potential scale of this supply chain attack;
  • Lessons to learn from this campaign;
  • Why this incident calls for “a more credible cyber deterrent strategy.”

Touhill was selected by President Obama as the U.S. government's first CISO. His other civilian government service includes duties as the deputy assistant secretary for cybersecurity and communications in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and as director of the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center, where he led national programs to protect the United States and its critical infrastructure. Touhill is a retired Air Force general officer, a highly decorated combat leader, an accomplished author, a former American diplomat and a senior executive with documented high levels of success on the battlefield and in the boardroom.


About the Author

Tom Field

Tom Field

Senior Vice President, Editorial, ISMG

Field is responsible for all of ISMG's 28 global media properties and its team of journalists. He also helped to develop and lead ISMG's award-winning summit series that has brought together security practitioners and industry influencers from around the world, as well as ISMG's series of exclusive executive roundtables.




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