It’s tax season, and the IRS is warning of scams. The IRS alerted human resource and payroll specialists of a phishing scam called “spoofing,” where a cybercriminal will send an email in the name of a company “CEO” or executive asking personal information, including a PIN or Social Security number, from an employee. […]

To drive down Federal spending and waste, the Office of Management and Budget has released its official Data Center Policy, designed to streamline the process of reducing the number of Federal data centers. By 2018, 52 percent of Federal data centers will close. […]

A “fireside chat” brought the heat to Capitol Hill on Thursday. Members of the Cloud Computing Caucus delivered a scathing review of the FedRAMP certification process, but also strong words of advice, to a roomful of Federal workers and private contractors at the Fix FedRAMP forum. […]

In a Customer Perspective panel at the FixFedRAMP event, three Federal CIOs and CTOs expressed frustration with current FedRAMP operations. […]

A representative of a Federal cloud computing industry advisory group filed a formal complaint this week with the General Services Administration’s inspector general alleging officials from FedRAMP issued veiled threats of retaliation against member companies that publicly voiced concerns about problems with the cloud security certification process. […]

The Government Accountability Office has charged 24 Federal agencies with consolidating data centers, but it seems their progress is too slow, according to a new report. […]

The White House launched its “Opportunity Project,” an open-data program that partners with public and private organizations and provides information about access to opportunity in cities across America. The aim: to provide all Americans with access to as many opportunities as possible, regardless of social or financial status. […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced additional leadership and organizational changes throughout the Office of Information and Technology. Tina Burnette, the long-serving executive director for enterprise risk management, has been selected for the Senior Executive Service and will take over as executive director of the Field Security Service within the Office of Information Security. […]

Verizon Wireless and the FCC agreed on a settlement on the company’s use of “supercookies” in customers’ mobile Internet use. The supercookies, also known as Unique Identifier Headers, enable Verizon to identify customers and deliver targeted advertising programs to them. […]

March is U.S. Women’s History Month, which celebrates the historical and scientific contributions made by women. These 10 women have made profound contributions to the history and development of government technology. […]

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told a Senate committee that the agency plans to use the final months of the Obama administration and the fiscal 2017 budget request to kick-start and expand a new operational focus on data and cybersecurity. […]

Both Apple and the FBI are taking extreme stances in the encryption debate, which makes picking a side complicated, according to a panel at the Cybersecurity for New America Conference. […]

Private-public collaboration in cybersecurity is absolutely necessary, panelists said Wednesday at the Cybersecurity Conference for a New America in Washington, D.C. […]

Public-private partnerships are at the core of President Obama’s new Commission for Enhancing National Cybersecurity, according to representatives from the Department of Commerce and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. […]

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has released a proposal for regulations that would restrict the ways broadband service providers can use customer data. The goal is to give customers greater choice in how their data is used. […]

The White House on Wednesday called on all Federal agencies to establish so-called acquisition innovation labs to improve how the government purchases information technology products and services. […]

The White House is encouraging Federal software collaboration and improvement with the software draft policy it released on Thursday. The policy would require software developed by or for the Federal government to be made available for sharing and improvement across Federal agencies. […]

The government wants to be better, and technology is the way to get there, President Obama told a crowd at the South by Southwest festival in Austin. The president emphasized the need for the government to advance in its use of technology in order to better serve its people. […]

While he was unable to address the Apple versus FBI case specifically, President Obama said he finds the discussion of encryption vitally important to national dialogue. “I am way on the civil liberties side of this thing,” he said Friday at the South by Southwest festival in Austin. […]

Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker announced the launch of the Digital Attache program, which will establish a network of digital attaches designed to increase and enhance digital trade abroad. The program will cover foreign markets including ASEAN, Brazil, China, Japan, India, and the European Union. […]

The technology departments at Federal agencies are just as exciting as Silicon Valley startups, U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith and U.S. Digital Service Administrator Haley Van Dyck told a panel at South by Southwest in Austin. […]

With telework on the rise, the National Institute of Standards and Technology is updating its guidelines for securing data to include smartphones, tablets, and unsecured laptops that may pose a greater weakness to a company’s security. […]

The President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology released a report that suggests 12 current and future technologies and policies that could help older people live longer, more engaged lives. […]

Self-driving car manufacturers are moving forward too quickly, according to Missy Cummings, the director of Duke University’s Humans and Autonomy Laboratory. She testified alongside four representatives from the motor vehicle industry at the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation committee. […]

The U.S. Small Business Administration has appointed Tracy Terrill to serve as its Chief Data Officer, a new position. […]

HealthCare.gov had a rocky rollout, but future Federal tech projects could learn a lot from its trials and successes, according to Erin Bliss at the HHS Office of Inspector General. She testified in front of the Senate Finance Committee alongside Seto Bagdoyan, the director of forensic audits at GAO. […]

Microsoft Azure was selected for a FedRAMP pilot program that will establish a high-impact baseline for cloud-computing services. This essentially allows Federal agencies to move more sensitive data onto contracted cloud-computing services, enabling the sensitive data to operate on the more technically advanced level that is already possible for low-impact data. […]

Federal agencies remain woefully behind on cybersecurity, according to the annual cybersecurity compliance report released Friday by the Office of Management and Budget. During the 2015 fiscal year, Federal agencies reported 77,183 cybersecurity incidents, a 10% increase over the incidents reported in 2014. Though the administration believes this increase may be attributed to improved detection […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs is on what appears to be an irreversible losing streak when it comes to its annual cybersecurity audit. Last week, VA’s Office of the Inspector General slapped the agency with a “material weakness” designation for its information security efforts—the 16th year in a row that VA has failed the annual […]

Increasing Internet access will be a key component to boosting Cuban businesses, according to President Obama. In remarks made alongside Cuban President Raul Castro as well as a separate forum on Cuban entrepreneurship, the President emphasized the Internet’s role in improving and expanding the country’s ability to innovate. “In the 21st century, countries cannot be successful […]