CIOs Uncensored: Security Smarts

The beneficiaries of the laboratory's cybersecurity program are our clients and partners, whose information we're entrusted to protect, and PNNL, which is able to attract and retain these customers by demonstrating a trustworthy computing environment. While it's difficult to measure the impact of a cybersecurity event, there's no doubt that it's expensive to perform the forensics, repair, and cleanup necessary to return a compromised system to the network. Worst of all, the impact on an organization's reputation can be incalculable. You can spend an infinite amount of money and you'll never be perfectly secure. But taking a smart, risk-based approach that includes defense-in-depth tactics tailored for your organization will reduce the risk to the information with which you are entrusted.

-- Jerry Johnson is the CIO of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.