Dive Brief:

• Together, the American Council for Technology and the Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) called for new ideas on how to improve federal cybersecurity using methods that could be implemented quickly and efficiently. 
• A report on the survey found that being aware of current cyber solutions and practices, then using them across agencies, would help stop cyberattacks, according to FCW.
• The ACT-IAC said they received nearly 200 ideas during the two months in 2015 the survey was conducted.  

Dive Insight:

The report recommends that agencies be held more accountable for adhering to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework.

Suggestions also included appointing a government-wide "security maven" to “help tear down barriers between the security, development and business components,” according to the report. 

Another key recommendation was “following best practices within an agency, making them part of employee behavior and increasing executive accountability.”

Federal agencies have often struggled to follow standards or best practices in their use of innovative technology. 

For example, earlier this month, the Pentagon’s inspector general said an audit of the Department of Defense revealed that a lack of a standard definition for cloud computing across DOD was weakening CIO Terry Halvorsen's effort to roll out department-wide cloud services. The IG recommended Halvorsen’s office clarify how the NIST definition applies to DOD cloud contracts.