The House Government Operations Subcommittee has confirmed scheduling for its Jan. 20 hearing on the 13th edition of the FITARA Scorecard issued by the House Oversight and Reform Committee that grades major Federal agencies for progress across a range of IT-related goals. […]

After studying the SolarWinds and Microsoft Exchange attacks for the past year, the Government Accountability Organization (GAO) detailed the lessons agencies learned and ten critical actions still needed to address major cybersecurity challenges in a new report. […]

As Federal agencies look to further adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, experts both in government and industry are stressing the importance of making sure AI is mission-integrated, and that agencies are moving towards a more distributed AI approach. […]

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is preparing to rebid a contract for the digital platform that connects taxpayers, paid tax preparers, and IRS employees to agency systems. […]

One plus one still equals two, but when two providers of services vital to executing on the Federal government’s zero trust security migration mandate are the ones leveraging each other’s strengths, then the equation yields an extra boost through force multiplication. […]

The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM) Task Force has met for the first time this calendar year, and designated work on a software bill of materials (SBOM) as one of its primary priorities for 2022, according to a Jan. 11 press release. […]

The Department of Defense (DoD) has launched the DoD University Consortium for Cybersecurity (UC2) to better facilitate communication between the Secretary of Defense and academia, and fulfilling a requirement from the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, DoD announced Jan. 10. […]

Kenneth Wainstein, the Biden administration’s nominee to become undersecretary for Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), fielded questions on several tech-related issues from members of the Senate Intelligence Committee at a Jan. 12 committee hearing to consider his nomination. […]

The U.S. Space Force, the smallest and newest military branch, is looking to industry to serve as a leader in a number of innovative technology areas and to successfully collaborate with the service branch, according to Lisa Costa, Space Force’s chief technology and innovation officer. […]

The Department of Energy (DoE) announced plans to upgrade the U.S. electricity grid with a major aim of helping to protect vital energy infrastructure against supply disruptions caused by environmental, physical, and cyberattacks, and to minimize the impact of supply disruptions. […]

The Senate this week approved legislation sponsored by Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, which would promote stronger cybersecurity coordination between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and state and local governments. […]

Improving cybersecurity has become the key to better protecting critical infrastructure and meeting mission needs within the government space, but according to an official from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Federal agencies still have a long way to go to be cyber-ready. […]

Department of Defense (DoD) components have successfully monitored and managed four contracts and one cooperative agreement for the Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team (AWCFT) – otherwise known as Project Maven – but the team failed to document its approach to monitoring metrics, processes, and procedures. […]

Officials from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and within the cybersecurity industry are warning of the potential for threat actors to have already exploited the Log4j vulnerability, but are waiting to pull the trigger on any planned exploits until focus on the vulnerability abates. […]

Reps. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., and Jody Hice, R-Ga., have sent letters to the IRS, Social Security Administration (SSA), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) seeking feedback on how the agencies are implementing the CASES Act. […]

The White House’s Safer Federal Workforce Task Force released new guidance this week calling on agencies to establish COVID-19 testing programs by Feb. 15 for Federal employees who are not fully vaccinated, including those with an approved or pending exemption. […]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has updated its cybersecurity guidance for system engineers, adding more insight for engineers and programmers on mitigating system vulnerabilities. […]

Facing over $4.6 billion in potentially fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and continuing challenges with IT investments, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has yet to meet its goal to revise the agency’s Certify system by the end of 2021, according to SBA Inspector General Hannibal “Mike” Ware. […]

U.S. Army Chief Information Officer Raj Iyer confirmed on LinkedIn that the service branch has updated its download policy for Office 365 users to allow for more use of personal devices. […]

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is nudging Federal agencies to establish chief diversity officer positions – a key element in the Biden administration’s push to emphasize workforce diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA). […]

The Senate on Jan. 11 voted to approve the nomination of Alan Davidson as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, and head of the agency’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). […]

While cybersecurity threats continue to grow and evolve, public sector organizations are worrying the most about increasing cybersecurity threats from foreign governments. […]

President Biden has nominated U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Frank D. Whitworth III to serve as the director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense (DoD) announced on Jan. 10. […]

The House Oversight and Reform Committee is likely to release the 13th version of its FITARA Scorecard next week, with the House Government Operations Subcommittee also lining up a hearing to discuss the scorecard results. […]

House Oversight and Reform Committee leadership today unveiled their draft legislation to make major changes to the 2014 Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) that sets cybersecurity requirements for Federal civilian agencies. […]

Industry leaders today urged the House Oversight and Reform Committee to strengthen the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) to keep up with evolving cyber threats and place a greater emphasis on cybersecurity outcomes, rather than compliance. […]

The Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), National Security Agency (NSA), and FBI are warning critical infrastructure owners and operators of Russian threats to domestic critical infrastructure. […]

The Advanced Technology Academic Research Center (ATARC) released a new report that provides a framework and assessment of current Federal AI policy, which is a structure of AI policy categories and mapping those categories to Federal organizations with related policies. […]

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) added 15 new vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog on Jan. 10. […]

As agencies accelerate efforts to move to secure cloud services and zero trust architecture in line with the requirements of the Biden administration’s executive order on cybersecurity (EO), many are challenged to close visibility gaps and blind spots in their technology environments. In a MeriTV interview, Sean Connelly, program manager for Trusted Internet Connections at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and Michael Dickman, chief product officer at cloud visibility and analytics firm Gigamon, assessed those visibility gaps and what it will take to close them – ensuring that data is secure across physical, virtual, and cloud networks. […]