Unisys CEO calls for biometric adoption as part of U.S. unified national cybersecurity approach

Different sectors of society, including governments, businesses, academia and private citizens must all act to ensure that advanced technologies, including 5G, artificial intelligence, and biometrics, are deployed to make the fundamental changes necessary for a safer and more secure internet, Unisys Chairman and CEO Peter Altabef told attendees of the CES Government conference in Las Vegas.

Altabef delivered a presentation titled “The Cyber Moonshot Imperative,” which is based on his work as co-chair of the White House Cyber Moonshot working group for the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC). He says changes are necessary in education, policy, privacy, and technology.

“To enact the necessary changes, governments and companies will need to actively leverage new technologies, including 5G communications, artificial intelligence and biometrics, to make us safer – not just better connected,” Altabef said. “Our NSTAC report envisions a way forward to better securing the internet while also respecting privacy.”

The Cybersecurity Moonshot report recommends a “whole of nation approach” to achieving internet security, in the spirit of President Kennedy’s national ambition to land a man on the moon and return him safely to earth in the 1960s.

Other efforts by the White House to improve U.S. cybersecurity include a directive issued last year for federal agencies to improve identity, credential, and access management.

Unisys attributed a run of strong growth in part to its contracts to help build the U.S. Army’s Next Generation Biometric Collection Capability and digital transformation for state governments in a recent earnings report.

Article Topics

artificial intelligence  |  biometrics  |  cybersecurity  |  Unisys  |  United States