The Air Force chief information security officer offered unusual advice to new security professionals: Don’t worry about every patch and vulnerability.

“It’s OK if you can’t get to 800 controls,” said Peter Kim. “It’s OK if you miss a patch.”

Kim said that he is trying to communicate to his team that their most important job is to support the soldiers. He said that he doesn’t want new members of the Federal workforce to get discouraged because they feel that they “can’t possibly follow every rule.” Kim instead tells them to prioritize.

“Which controls are the most effective for the problem we’re trying to solve?” Kim said.

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