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. […]

IT-related gradings for the largest Federal government agencies moved moderately higher on the 15th edition of the FITARA Scorecard issued today by the House Oversight and Reform Committee. […]

The United States can learn important cybersecurity lessons from Ukraine in its war with Russia, a conflict that has not come close to revealing Russia’s full cyber warfare capabilities, a top U.S. Navy cyber official said on Dec. 14. […]

A consortium of universities is leveraging Federal grants to produce research on the “nexus” of terrorism and cybersecurity, one top academic said at Splunk’s GovSummit on Dec. 14. […]

Following up on the May 2021 executive order (EO), which requires Federal agencies to adopt zero trust, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued memorandum 22-09 (M-22-09) in January 2022. It sets forth a Federal zero trust architecture strategy, requiring agencies to meet specific cybersecurity objectives by the end of 2024. M-22-09 also provides specific direction for implementing identity-driven security measures such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) to prevent sophisticated online attacks. […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is utilizing capabilities from Splunk to see “into the future” in an attempt to answer questions such as whether or not the agency will hit telehealth capacity, a VA official explained today. […]

Top officials at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC) are “demystifying” how the Federal government maintains critical infrastructure security and resiliency by partnering and sharing information with organizations across the globe, panelists said at Splunk’s Dec. 14 Government Summit in Washington, D.C. […]

To help fend off ever-increasing cyberattacks, Splunk is helping organizations to build a foundation of cyber resilience so they can have visibility into cyber threats, accelerate operations, and meet their mission. […]

Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations committees said late Tuesday night that they have reached a “framework agreement” on Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations that they hope will lead to final spending bills to fund Federal government operation through September 2023. […]

Communications sector experts from the private, nonprofit, and state government sectors told senators on Dec. 13 that the “once-in-a-generation” broadband expansion funding approved last year by Congress will only close the digital divide when underserved communities gain full connectivity – but there are still many obstacles to overcome in reaching that goal. […]

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NITA) is seeking public comment on a grant program that will invest $1.5 billion to support the deployment of open, interoperable, and standards-based radio access networks (RAN) for wireless communications, according to a Dec. 13 Federal Register notice. […]

“You can’t secure what you can’t see” is a common refrain in cybersecurity circles. It’s echoed in multiple Federal IT mandates, including the zero trust strategy and the event logging memo from the Office of Management and Budget. Gaining comprehensive visibility across agency networks, devices, applications, and identities is no mean feat in today’s diverse and ever-changing IT environments. […]

Amid the recent rush at the Federal and state levels to ban or curtail use of the China-based TikTok social media app, at least one U.S. senator says that those actions would not be sufficient to prevent China interests from accessing personal data on United States citizens. […]

The 2022 National Defense Strategy identifies China as the most comprehensive and serious challenge to U.S. national security and the Department of Defense’s (DoD) current pacing challenge, according to DoD Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks. […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) said today that it is transitioning away from its supply chain management system – the Defense Medical Logistics Standard Support (DMLSS) – and is in the market for a new solution contract. […]

The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) awarded CACI International and Peraton parallel $2.25 billion contracts for fieldwork support services as the agency moves to a new case processing system. […]

Federal and private sector experts will break down the future of data management at the Defense Department (DoD) as the Pentagon builds on its Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) strategy, during a Dec. 15 webinar from MeriTalk and Red Hat. […]

At the first-ever White House Summit on STEMM Equity and Excellence, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) announced a slew of bold actions to expand access and opportunity across the science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) workforce ecosystem.  […]

Cybersecurity issues are likely to be front and center at the House Government Operations Subcommittee’s Dec. 15 hearing at which the panel will unveil the 15th edition of the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s FITARA (Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act) Scorecard. […]

President Biden has appointed 15 leaders in the quantum information science (QIS) field from industry, academia, and Federal laboratories to serve on the inaugural presidential National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee (NQIAC), according to a Dec. 9 White House press release. […]

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is asking agencies to take a number of actions to better track progress on the first priority in the President’s Management Agenda (PMA), which aims to strengthen and empower the Federal workforce. […]

The Senate on Dec. 9 unanimously approved legislation passed earlier this year by the House that helps to set the Federal government on the path to defend against quantum computing-enabled data breaches that will become more of a threat as quantum tech advances in the coming years. […]

As the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wane in many places around the world, Federal agency leaders are sorting through lessons learned from remote work that can be combined with more traditional ideas with the aim of boosting efficiency overall. […]

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is seeking information from industry on how to upgrade its Stardust program, which develops models of the Earth used for matching GPS coordinates to locations on the ground, according to a recent request for information (RFI). […]

Google released a new research report on Dec. 8 outlining how organizations can better defend themselves against cyberattacks that target their software supply chains. The report follows up on supply chain security concerns brought to light by exploits such as the SolarWinds software supply chain attack, and efforts to guard against Log4j vulnerabilities. “We believe […]

The Biden Administration’s Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights has been public for two months, and artificial intelligence experts want to see more Federal agencies leveraging the guide to help protect the rights of Americans in an AI-powered world. […]

As Silicon Valley companies continue to lay off thousands of tech workers, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is actively recruiting many of those facing layoffs – and may soon be able to pay them a salary more comparable to private sector levels. […]