Paul Cofoni, CEO, CACI International

Paul Cofoni, the chief executive officer of CACI International, one of the largest contractors serving the government's information technology needs, gives credit to the Obama administration for making the public aware for the need for cybersecurity. But he wonders if IT security is being pushed aside as a White House priority, as a slew of other concerns including two wars, the economy, the Gulf oil spill, immigration reform, healthcare reform and financial reform get in the way.

"We're trying to do too many things," Cofoni said in an interview with GovInfoSecurity.com. "If this were my family, I'd call for a family meeting and say, 'We're trying to do too much, and we're not going to get enough of any one of these done unless we put them in some sensible priority order and attack the most important.' Cyber defense suffers from being one of many priorities." Cofoni said he would elevate cybersecurity as a priority, placing it behind the wars, economy and oil spill. "Everyone would have a different list," he said. "It's not so much who has the right list; it's getting a list and sticking to that priority stack and not trying to attack everything at the same time."

In the interview, he also addressed:

• Gulf of Mexico oil spills as a metaphor to a potential cyber attack.
• Vulnerabilities to other forms of technology that rely on computer technology.
• Building partnerships between public and private sectors in building cyber defenses.