A recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that several Federal agencies have yet to meet guidelines issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that outline agencies’ responsibilities for accepting digital access and consent forms. […]

Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., urged the National Science Foundation (NSF) in a Dec. 20 letter to secure Americans’ information within the National Secure Data Service (NSDS) platform using advanced encryption technology.  […]

Open-source intelligence (OSINT) must be become the intelligence “of first resort” for the intel community, according to a white paper released by the Intelligence and National Security Foundation (INSF) earlier this month. […]

The Department of Defense (DoD) has officially blasted off with its mission to identify what the military calls “anomalous phenomena” in space, air, land, or sea. […]

NASA has awarded a $516.9 million financial support services contract to Aeyon subsidiary MM Technologies to help modernize the agency’s financial management system. […]

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is looking to industry for insight into how the agency can develop an overarching cloud-based enterprise management system capable of automating its data collection and dissemination, according to a request for information (RFI) issued Dec. 12. […]

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is in line to receive a 12 percent funding increase under Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations legislation unveiled today – a spending hike that Capitol Hill leaders said will help the agency boost its ability to prevent cyberattacks and secure critical infrastructure. […]

TikTok is one of the fastest-growing social media apps in the world, sucking users into its irresistible, infinitely looping feed of videos personally curated to their interests. However, Federal employees may now need to wait until they get home to watch the app’s latest dance craze or viral pasta recipe. […]

The House and Senate Appropriations committees today unveiled a $1.7 trillion spending bill that would fund Federal government operations for the remainder of Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 that ends next September 30. […]

The U.S. Army is beginning to roll out new virtualized desktop capabilities that will enable more military personnel to use their own devices to access their work environments. […]

The Federal government remains largely unprepared to implement “accelerating technology trends most likely to cause disruption over the next 18 to 24 months,” a new report from Deloitte says. […]

The Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) said today it will make $14.6 million of new funding awards to build and improve digital services at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board (RRB). […]

Private sector tech firms that help the Federal government improve tech and security capabilities are viewing last week’s FITARA Scorecard as a further call to action on the cybersecurity and IT modernization fronts. […]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced the fourth revision to its Digital Identity Guidelines draft on Dec. 16. […]

The General Services Administration (GSA) is granting a two-year deadline extension to the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to transition to Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) communications services contracts. […]

The majority staff of the Senate Committee on Aging urged in a new report on Dec. 14 – Unlock The Virtual Front Door – that the Justice Department (DoJ) resume critical oversight for digital and technological accessibility for people with disabilities, older adults, and veterans. […]

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) co-chaired the second meeting of their Joint Ransomware Task Force (JRTF) on Dec. 14, with a CISA leader saying that the task force effort is yielding “unifying” effects in the fight against ransomware-driven cyber attacks. […]

The Biden Administration has reactivated a government website that will allow Americans to request free Covid-19 tests ahead of what is expected to be an uptick in coronavirus cases this winter. […]

President Biden today signed into law a short-term continuing resolution (CR) budget measure that will fund Federal government operations at Fiscal Year 2022 levels through Dec. 23.  Government funding under a previous CR signed in September had been set to run out at midnight tonight. […]

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is responding to a data breach at Healthcare Management Solutions, LLC (HMS) – a subcontractor to CMS – that may have exposed personally identifiable information of up to 254,000 Medicare beneficiaries. […]

Widespread use of telehealth services proved their worth during the COVID-19 pandemic, and health experts and lawmakers are considering implementing telehealth provisions on a more permanent basis as they look beyond the pandemic, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said during a Dec. 14 Axios webinar. […]

The Department of the Air Force (USAF) wants to become a “cloud-first” agency and is committed to making continued investments in cloud computing and migration, according to USAF Chief Technology Officer Jay Bonci. […]

The Federal government’s Chief Data Officer (CDO) Council has made measurable progress over the past two years in helping strengthen the government’s use of data-based evidence in policymaking, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). […]

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., introduced new legislation on Dec. 14 that would apply to the cryptocurrency industry existing laws that aim to combat money laundering and terrorism financing. […]

With the Defense Department (DoD) cranking up its Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) capability to gain a decision advantage over adversaries, the Pentagon is looking to edge computing as a key enabler in that effort, military and private sector experts said during a Dec. 15 webinar from MeriTalk and Red Hat. […]

As Federal agencies undergo IT modernization, they confront unique challenges, including the added complexity of multiple physical locations managing IT and cybersecurity functions in silos. New initiatives aim to develop enterprise cybersecurity models to increase safety, security, and effectiveness while reducing costs. MeriTalk recently sat down with Aruna Mathuranayagam, chief technology officer at Leidos, to discuss how agencies can approach IT modernization to achieve the speed, scale, and security they need. […]

Building on the May 2021 Cybersecurity executive order, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) memorandum M-22-09 sets out ambitious timelines for Federal agencies to improve cybersecurity. However, many agencies may be closer than they realize to the mandates laid out in M-22-09, particularly regarding multifactor authentication (MFA). […]

Cybersecurity experts at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) today praised Federal agencies for their progress and cost savings as reflected in the latest FITARA Scorecard issued by the House Oversight and Reform Committee today, but said agencies need to do better in speeding their transition to Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) communications contracts, and do more to empower their chief information officers (CIOs). […]

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has released a new “progress report” on the state of cybersecurity across Federal agencies, just in time for the 15th edition of the FITARA Scorecard issued today by the House Oversight and Reform Committee. […]

Both the chairman and the ranking member of the House Government Operations Subcommittee complained today – to varying degrees – about a lack of new and detailed information on Federal agency cybersecurity performance data to inform the 15th version of the biannual FITARA Scorecard released today by the House Oversight and Reform Committee. […]