Members of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee at a September 29 hearing sketched out the latest chapter in a years-long debate about how to boost consumer data privacy protections – with the current options centering on a proposal from committee Chair Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., that would set up a new privacy bureau for that purpose at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). […]
The FCC has announced a second set of awards for round two of its COVID-19 telehealth program, totaling more than $41.11 million to healthcare providers. […]
Dominic Sale, who for years helped lead Federal government IT modernization efforts at the General Services Administration (GSA), left government service earlier this month for a new position with Dynamic Integrated Services (DIS), a provider of IT, enterprise, and communications solutions to government and other customers. […]
The September 29 kick-off meeting of the Trade and Technology Council (TTC) created earlier this year by the United States, European Commission, and European Council produced initial commitments by the three parties to coordinate on technology issues including the development of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, and semiconductor supply chains. […]
The General Services Administration’s (GSA) plans to develop an online marketplace to measure and monitor data protection efforts will need further development to prevent data misuse, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a new report. […]
The Department of Labor (DoL) awarded Verizon Public Sector five Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions task orders worth $887 million to help substantially modernize its legacy communications and information technology capabilities. […]
The House Oversight and Reform Committee is seeking a briefing on how the FBI handled the ransomware attack on Kaseya that affected up to 1,500 businesses worldwide, according to a letter today from the committee leadership to FBI Director Christopher Wray. […]
Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, the committee’s ranking member, have introduced legislation to require critical infrastructure entities to report cyberattacks to the Federal government, and to require most other entities to report to the government if they make a ransomware payment. […]
The State Department’s new Enterprise Data Strategy released on September 27 outlines the central role that data will play in the agency’s use of emerging technologies, and how the strategy will help the United States deal with global threats. […]
As part of its efforts to close the homework gap, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has opened the second filing window for the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF). […]
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has released a new Insider Risk Mitigation Self-Assessment Tool which the agency says will help public and private sector organizations assess their vulnerability to insider threats. […]
With President Biden’s legislative agenda currently up in the air, Reps. Doris Matsui, D-Ca., and Jim Langevin, D-R.I., are looking to get $20 million in K-12 cybersecurity funding added into the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill to help combat the rise of cyberattacks on schools. […]
The coronavirus pandemic – for all the tragedy and disruption it continues to cause – has advanced the cause of digital modernization by three to five years, leaving government and private sector organizations better prepared to provide improved digital services going forward. […]
The American Rescue Plan (ARP), passed in March, included an additional $1 billion for the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF). Last week, Federal Chief Information Security Officer Chris DeRusha said the first round of awards was coming soon. Today, Federal CIO Clare Martorana said the TMF board sent the first seven project awards to Congress for final approval. […]
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) selected Lumen Technologies for a network modernization contract to strengthen and modernize its network services that support more than 32,000 post offices and mail processing sites around the country. […]
The impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the world will extend far beyond narrow national security applications. Federal officials spoke about moving beyond those narrow AI applications to gain strategic advantage and the importance of justified trust when deploying AI systems on September 27, during a webinar hosted by the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. […]
The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) is in the process of doing research and working on an update to its special publication (SP) 800-82, a guide to Industrial Control Systems (ICS), by early 2022, NIST officials said today. […]
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is in the process of building out its Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC) office, and CISA Director Jen Easterly today said that while the office is being established based on the Cyberspace Solarium Commission recommendation of creating a joint collaborative planning office, the JCDC will be about more than just planning. […]
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) found through an audit that the IRS needs to do a better job of wiping sensitive taxpayer data on laptop and desktop hard disks. […]
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are driving breakthroughs in innovation, but Federal agencies struggle to keep up with the growth of data that these technologies produce. According to a MeriTalk study, 88 percent of Federal IT leaders are frustrated with their agency’s data management strategies. […]
Legislative crunch-time for the Biden administration’s two infrastructure funding bills began in earnest on Monday. Here are three tracks to watch that impact the legislation, which proposes billions of dollars of funding for Federal IT, cybersecurity, and broadband initiatives. […]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced it will open the application filing window for the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program on Oct. 29 and close it on Jan. 14, 2022. […]
The office in charge of building a government-wide shared services ecosystem for grants management plans to launch a website for grants management shared services marketplace by the end of the year and have all Federal service providers onboarded by mid-year 2022. […]
The newly established U.S. Space Force is building its workforce and develop its people, while primarily looking for people that have science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) backgrounds, Chief of Space Operations for the Space Force Gen. John Raymond today. […]
Federal government contractors and subcontractors are facing a deadline of Dec. 8 to get their employees fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus – subject to a list of exceptions that include medical conditions and religious beliefs – with an additional 60-day extension of the compliance window possible in the case of “urgent” contract needs. […]
The Department of Commerce is seeking comment on questions related to the development of regulations to govern process and procedures the Commerce Secretary will use to deter foreign malicious cyber actors’ use of U.S. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) products and investigate foreign malicious cyber actors. […]
Federal chief data officers (CDOs) are seeking more guidance from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) when it comes to the Federal Data Strategy, despite deadlines passing for many key deliverables. […]
Federal agencies are on the clock to transition networks and systems to using Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Trusted Internet Connection (TIC) program office released draft guidance to help agencies transition securely. […]
The fiscal year (FY) 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed the House of Representatives late Sept. 23 with a bipartisan 316-113 vote. Among the amendments are a number of tech provisions focusing heavily on cybersecurity, along with some focusing on the digital workforce, cloud, and AI. […]
Closer integration between cybersecurity teams and enterprise risk management staff could help Federal agencies avert catastrophic cyber breaches more effectively, according to a new study published on September 23 by the Partnership for Public Service and Deloitte. […]