CMS, DOD officials honored for security work
C. Ryan Brewer, chief information security officer
at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, was recognized at the
RSA Conference for his work on enhancing the security of CMS networks
while improving efficiency. Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn was
honored for his public service.
Brewer received the RSA Conference Award for Excellence in the
Field of Security Practices and Lynn received the Award for Public
Policy during the opening ceremonies of the conference on Feb. 15.
Brewer said that with more than 20 percent of the U.S population
receiving health care services through Medicare or Medicaid — and with
the entire population being eligible for the services at some point —
securing CMS’ sensitive health information is critically important. At a
time when government is coming under increased pressure to cut
spending, efficiency is also a high priority.
The award recognized Brewer’s efforts in the past two years to
transform the information security program and culture at CMS by
instituting a risk-based approach to information security while
providing a high level of business value. In the process, he saved CMS
millions of dollars and improved the agency's security posture.
Lynn’s career in public service has included serving as director of
program analysis and evaluation in the Office of the Secretary of
Defense and then as undersecretary of Defense/comptroller. Before
joining the Defense Department in 1993, he served for six years on the
staff of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) as liaison to the Senate
Armed Services Committee. He has received three DOD medals for
distinguished public service, the Joint Distinguished Civilian Service
Award from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and awards from
the Air Force, Army and Navy.
Brewer and Lynn joined other cybersecurity luminaries honored at
the conference, including Ronald Rivest, Adi Shamir and Leonard Adleman —
the R, S and A of RSA, the security division of EMC. They were honored
with lifetime achievement awards for their work on developing the
encryption method that became the RSA algorithm, a major advance in
public-key cryptography. Used worldwide to secure Internet transactions,
the algorithm has become a standard technology for encryption in online
commerce.
Posted by William Jackson on Feb 16, 2011 at 12:11 PM