Symantec’s Greg Clark: Govt Should Adopt Custom-Built Security Platforms for Cyber Defense

Greg Clark, CEO of Symantec, has said government agencies should advance the development of “custom, purpose-built security tools” designed to protect its national security systems from potential cyber attacks.

Clark wrote in an opinion piece published Wednesday on The Hill that such tools should be unique and unknown to cyber threat actors and urged the government to focus on how to get ahead of adversaries instead of pursuing the previous attack.

“Tailoring tools to particular agencies and applications would also allow for more mission-specific defenses that can be customized for a specific environment,” he wrote.

Clark also cited concerns over the use of commercial-off-the-shelf platforms for cyber defense efforts.

“Not all COTS purchases are bad, and they make perfect sense for much of the software the government uses,” Clark said.

“But the same is not true of security tools, and COTS purchases of these products are in and of themselves a threat to national security.”