Dive Brief:
- Danny Harris, chief information officer for the Department of Education, will leave his post by the end of the month, choosing retirement as he faces continued criticism on a range of issues.
- Ars Technica reports Harris collapsed and was taken to the hospital earlier this month after testifying before the House Oversight Committee, during which Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz excoriated Harris for failing to secure the department’s systems.
- This criticism is not new, and joins allegations that Harris had an improper relationship with a federal contractor for more than a decade and forced his subordinates to do work on his side businesses, which he also did not properly report on his taxes.
Dive Insight:
Besides the hearing earlier this month, Harris appeared before the House Oversight Committee in late November to defend the security status of the Department’s systems. While Harris said he was confident in the database security, Inspector General Kathleen Tighe revealed that her staff was able to infiltrate the system without detection.
The Office of Personnel Management was the victim of a data breach from China that was discovered last year, prompting a “cybersecurity sprint” to address all issues. Colleges and universities across the country are responding to concerns of their own, acknowledging the inherent vulnerability higher education institutions have to hackers and implementing a range of solutions, including granting new powers to chief information security officers, taking on cybersecurity liability coverage, and implementing network activity monitoring.