Ensuring supply chain security has become a top priority for federal agencies, and they’re looking to improve risk management for their programs. The Federal Chief Information Security Officer laid out several top goals when it came to supply chain cybersecurity, and Gary Shiffman, founder and CEO of Giant Oak, says that this is a good thing from an industry perspective.

“The goals are only something we can do now that we have big data, machine learning, compute. We have all these capabilities now. So, I think the timing of the statement is right on. I think the initiative is fantastic,” Shiffman said. “The technology cuts both ways. Our adversaries can also take advantage of technology to exploit new vulnerabilities. In a sense, shame on us if we don’t move forward and do this. That’s the way I see it, we have to do this, and I applaud the move and the statement.”

John Zanni, chief executive officer of Acronis SCS, says that ensuring trusted organizations are in the data loop is important for any system of this type and scale.

“Definitely the DoD and DHS. They have good systems today and it should expand to federal. But any time you are giving a trust rating to an entity, the broader it is, the more you should be careful because we know perception is reality,” Zanni said.