Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves emphasized the importance of cybersecurity in the modern age when he spoke at the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) on March 7.
“At the Commerce Department, we’re focused on supporting economic growth, opportunity, and innovation here in America,” Graves said in his opening remarks, released by the DOC.
Graves called the U.S. "the world leader in technological innovation" and warned of the increasing threat of cyberattacks to the country's economic and national security.
"These attacks can endanger critical infrastructure and access to essential services, harm the productivity and reputations of American businesses, and put the privacy of the American people at risk," Graves said in his remarks. "We at the Commerce Department recognize that these growing and evolving threats demand action."
Graves praised the NCCoE's work in advancing cybersecurity standards and best practices, the DOC reports, and said he was pleased that the NCCoE's founding partners – NIST, the state of Maryland, and Montgomery County, Maryland – renewed the arrangement.
"The NCCoE is an ideal place and way for federal, state, and local governments to join forces and tackle tough cybersecurity issues," Graves said.
“Smaller businesses that participate in this endeavor will inform NIST’s decisions about its portfolio of cybersecurity activities to ensure that they are as relevant and effective as possible,” Graves said in his remarks. “They will help ensure that NIST’s guidance is both meaningful and practical for smaller companies and other organizations to put into use. Beyond benefiting the NCCoE and its participants, this new community of interest promises to improve the return on all of NIST’s investments in cybersecurity research, standards, guidelines, and practices.”
Graves said the DOC must raise awareness about cyber risks and "identify, create, improve - and use" available resources to manage and reduce the risks. Government agencies, educational, institutions and companies can’t work alone to successfully meet the nation’s cybersecurity challenges, he said.
"To succeed in meeting our nation’s cybersecurity challenges, our companies, our educational institutions, and our government agencies simply cannot go it alone," Graves said. "Being cyber-secure is a team sport."
