In response to a letter from 11 former U.S. cybersecurity officials expressing their concerns about preparedness for the 2020 census, Census Bureau CIO Kevin Smith says his office will work with other federal agencies to ensure census data is protected. Smith says the bureau will work with the Department of Homeland Security and the intelligence community to address cybersecurity threats not known to its private sector IT security partners. However, the bureau expects to handle 95 percent of its cybersecurity concerns through commercially available IT security products and services.
Smith responded to a number of specific questions posed in the letter, stating that collected data will be encrypted both in transit and at rest, enumerators’ devices will only contain data until it is transmitted to Census systems, and the bureau will conduct public service announcements to warn the public about rogue websites and phishing.