LAS VEGAS (AP) – A top Obama administration official says the government and the data security community need to focus on building trust so information about cyber threats can be shared between them for the greater good.
Alejandro Mayorkas, deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, says he recognizes that a trust deficit exists between the government and those who deal with data security, but says that needs to change.
“The best way to address the trust deficient is to build trust,” Mayorkas said during his address Thursday at the annual Black Hat hacker conference in Las Vegas. “That’s probably not an overnight process. It’s probably an incremental process, but let’s take the steps we need to.”
But several people in the crowd of hackers and information security professionals expressed concern that any information about cyber threats shared with the government could be used against them.
The federal government also has come under fire in recent months for its own failures in cybersecurity.