Greg Touhill named first federal CISO

Grant Schneider was also tapped to serve as acting deputy chief information security officer.

The White House has named its first federal chief informaation security officer six months after it announced plans to create the position.

Retired Brig. Gen. Gregory Touhill has been appointed the nation’s first CISO, according to a White House blog post co-authored Thursday by U.S. CIO Tony Scott and Cybersecurity Coordinator Michael Daniel.

Up until his appointment, Touhill had been serving as deputy assistant secretary for cybersecurity and communications in the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Cybersecurity and Communications.

The position was created as part of the Cybersecurity National Action Plan, the overarching White House cybersecurity plan that establishes short- and long-term goals aimed at strengthening networks inside and outside government against hackers, protecting privacy, and raising Americans’ awareness of digital security measures.

In his role, Touhill will be leading cyber practices across federal agencies, including those that conduct “periodic CyberStat reviews with federal agencies to insure that implementation plans are effective and achieve the desired outcomes,” according to the blog post.

Additionally, the White House named Grant Schneider acting deputy CISO. He currently serves as the director for cybersecurity policy on the National Security Council.

At DHS, Touhill has spent time defending the department’s $6 billion governmentwide cybersecurity system known as Einstein. While in the past he has admitted the technology is outdated, he said earlier this year the program was beginning to fulfill its potential as a vital security tool.

Recently, Touhill sat down with FedScoop TV to talk about protecting the federal government’s networks. Watch that video below.

Government

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• Feds accuse China of ‘systematic’ distillation of U.S. AI models

• CIA’s Michael Ellis says cyber intelligence is changing how the agency operates

• The G7 tells industry to hurry up and prep for post-quantum encryption

Technology

• European parliament members call for slowdown of Serbia’s EU entry over spyware use

• FCC proposes public scorecard to rate telecoms on anti-robocall efforts

• Pegasus, NoviSpy variant spyware found on devices of Serbian activists

• Wyden seeks upgraded NSA security guidance on commercial VPN use

Threats

• Chinese espionage groups swarm to exploit triple-link chain of zero-days

• Microsoft discloses two actively exploited zero-days among 974 vulnerabilities

• Russian national extradited to US for alleged involvement in bank-account takeover scheme

• Attackers exploit zero-days in consistently besieged SonicWall product

Policy

• Whistleblower says USPS deploying new, ‘untested’ IT systems governing mail-in ballots

• ‘Watershed 250’ test program in Texas looks to private sector for water cybersecurity help

• Former sexual abuse victims say Grok used their images, videos to train deepfake capabilities

• Cyber threats nudge Trump to sign executive order on foreign equipment in U.S. energy infrastructure