The Open Group and the Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity

On May 12, 2021, President Joe Biden issued the Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity. This EO enumerates that “…the prevention, detection, assessment, and remediation of cyber incidents is a top priority and essential to national and economic security.” The EO contains a significant level of detail regarding areas of improvement for federal IT systems, as well as policy responses to be implemented by the government in support of greater security for private and public IT systems. The EO mentions in some detail the shift to zero trust security as a part of what is needed to combat cyber threats, as well as increased reliance on enhanced supply chain security.

A Shared Language for Supply Chain Security

In the world of technology, there are paradigms of language that arise organically and artificially over time. Necessity requires a shared mode of communication for ideas and as a result, descriptors, nouns, and technical designators are created and shared. The problem arises when certain words acquire a surfeit of meaning, so much so that they paradoxically become less meaningful. There are many examples of this but for our purposes, we’re going to look at “Supply Chain Security”.

The Open Group ‘Digital-First’ Virtual Event October 26 – 29, 2020 – Highlights

In the ongoing transition to Digital-First, an increasing number of technology executives, managers, and practitioners are looking for new approaches that will help them to make sense of the evolving business landscape and deliver digital products and services.

As an organization that is known for solving business issues through global industry collaboration, The Open Group hosted its third virtual event October 26-29, 2020, which provided over 3,300 registrants with the opportunity to discover the critical digital standards that enable a smooth transition to a Digital-First enterprise.

The Open Trusted Technology Provider™ Standard (O-TTPS) – Approved as ISO/IEC 20243:2015 and the O-TTPS Certification Program

By The Open Group

The increase of cybersecurity threats, along with the global nature of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), results in a threat landscape ripe for the introduction of tainted (e.g., malware-enabled or malware-capable) and counterfeit components into ICT products. This poses significant risk to customers in the operation of their business enterprises and our critical infrastructures.

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