Have you ever been involved in the purchasing process for a new system only to find that, once it was installed, you and your team required a lot more training and support than originally thought? Or, perhaps requirements have evolved based on operational developments? From what we hear when interviewing federal IT leaders, these types of situations arise frequently, especially for military agencies. The key to successlies in how the vendor addresses the issues raised and what support they provide long term to enable resolution.
One technology implementation that has been the focus of such a discussion is the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Host-Based Security System (HBSS). Since its initial rollout began in 2006, HBSS has polarized users in the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and the DoD, in part because of institutional issues such as personnel rotation and the need to comply with Command Cyber Readiness Inspection requirements, but also because of the rapid-fire evolution of the cyber security threats facing the U.S. government in general and the Department of Defense in particular. Further, with the advent of the Joint Information Environment (JIE), whose primary aim is to provide end-to-end visibility and situational awareness, the HBSS environment needs to be evolved to meet these requirements.
This recent white paper from McAfee takes a deep dive into the future of HBSS and offers recommendations on how to increase overall security capabilities, reduce the burden on management, and lower the total cost of ownership while improving the responsiveness of HBSS to new operational requirements. To read how McAfee is responding to DoD’s needs and aligning HBSS to JIE requirements, click here.
