New Software Dashboard Assists DHS in Cyber Prevention

Tasked with a mission to find innovative ways to enrich cybersecurity and limit the chance of cyber threats and vulnerabilities, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has created a government-wide software dashboard.  This dashboard will help DHS defenders determine departments and agencies that are using susceptible software or encounter viruses and other weaknesses.

The dashboard is a part of DHS’s Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program that provides cyber protection services to federal agencies and organizations by pulling information from the other agency dashboards.  Jeannette Manfra, the assistant secretary for DFS’s Cybersecurity and Communications Office explained that the dashboard is part of a large-scale project to move from a compliance-focused model of cybersecurity to one where cyberthreats are identified and alleviated almost immediately. 

Implementation of the DHS’s security dashboard couldn’t come at a better time for the federal government’s cyberthreat prevention efforts.  Last month, federal officials eliminated all government usage of Kaspersky Lab software and urged the public to avoid using it as well.   U.S. officials warned that the Russian-based cybersecurity and antivirus software company is susceptible to providing the Russian government with confidential information of its users.  Kaspersky Lab has denied all the allegations.