The changing cybersecurity landscape demands evolving technology and policy to help Federal agencies combat cyber threats and build resilience. MeriTalk spoke with Bryan Rosensteel, public sector cybersecurity architect at Cisco’s Duo Security, about the expansion of agency networks beyond traditional perimeters, how the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program is adapting to the changing landscape, and how dynamic authentication can help agencies stay ahead of bad actors. […]
Federal CIOs laid the groundwork for COVID-19-related telework by modernizing systems and moving to the cloud, responded to the pandemic with rapid modernization, and have the opportunity to maintain momentum for further improvements to government technology, said Maria Roat, deputy Federal CIO. […]
New legislation being prepared by House leaders will aim to track the promulgation of any “midnight” regulations by the outgoing Trump administration with an eye to amending or eliminating any eleventh-hour rules that are not based on “evidence and research.” […]
Federal government agencies are making consistent progress on going paperless and 97 percent of agencies believe they will meet the December 2022 deadline, set in Memorandum-19-21, to properly manage permanent files, according to a National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) report. […]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has officially adopted rules for identifying, removing, and replacing telecommunications equipment that could pose a national security threat to the United States. […]
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is warning consumers about scams related to the rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine, which could see distribution authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – after applications are reviewed by the third or fourth week of December 2020. […]
During the last weeks of the 116th Congress, H.R. 1250, a non-binding resolution to pursue a national artificial intelligence (AI) strategy, has passed the House. […]
President-elect Joe Biden announced today that his administration will be nominating Denis McDonough as Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA), as well as naming a few others to key cabinet positions. “This dedicated and distinguished group of public servants will bring the highest level of experience, compassion, and integrity to bear, solving problems and expanding possibilities […]
The Department of Defense (DoD) is thinking about how it can incorporate cloud computing into its high-performance compute capabilities and leverage the flexibility and scale of commercial cloud offerings, according to a request for information (RFI) released December 8 by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. […]
Research and consulting firm Forrester is calling for the incoming Biden administration to create a permanent Chief Customer Officer (CCO) position that would have the stated goal of improving the customer experience (CX) of those interacting with Federal agencies. […]
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) issued a Dec. 8 report on the agency’s progress moving its telecom services contracts from legacy Networx agreements to Enterprise Information Solutions (EIS) contracts. […]
This fall, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) operationalized its Coast Guard Care Anywhere initiative with the deployment of an enterprise virtual healthcare platform, ViiMed. The growing COVID-19 pandemic made a robust virtual health platform an urgent necessity. […]
Senior executives with Google Cloud emphasized at their first Public Sector Summit on Dec. 8 the work that the company has been doing with a variety of public sector organizations during the coronavirus pandemic, and one emerging silver lining to the health crisis: a big leap forward in IT modernization that will help government and academia during the recovery. […]
The House of Representatives late today approved a continuing budget resolution (CR) that funds Federal government operations through Dec. 18. The CR still needs Senate approval to avoid a Federal government shutdown when existing funding authorization expires on Dec. 11. […]
On Dec. 3, President Trump signed into law a bipartisan bill that would codify the Information Technology Modernization Centers of Excellence (CoE) Program, housed under the General Services Administration (GSA). […]
The Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) is building partnerships to spread artificial intelligence (AI) knowledge and projects throughout the Department of Defense (DoD) while acting as an advisor to interested components, said Colonel Robert Kinney, missions director at JAIC. […]
While larger Federal government agencies had the resources necessary to facilitate a shift to large-scale telework earlier this year, some smaller agencies had a more difficult time mounting similar efforts, a State Department official said at a Dec. 9 AFCEA Bethesda webinar. […]
State-sponsored hackers targeted cybersecurity firm FireEye in a recent cyberattack, company CEO Kevin Mandia disclosed in a Dec. 8 statement. The company said it is coordinating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in its investigation of the attack. […]
The United States and Australia signed a first-of-its-kind agreement in November to develop a virtual cyber training range to practice real-world defensive missions across boundaries and networks. […]
Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., along with 16 House colleagues in a Dec. 7 letter, called on Senate and House appropriators to prioritize funding for broadband infrastructure projects and reject proposed cuts included in the Senate version of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 funding bill. […]
Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) Program Office chief Sean Connelly said Dec. 8 that his office remains on track to issue several additional use cases over the coming months for the TIC 3.0 security initiative that Federal agencies can employ to advance their security postures. […]
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) released its request for proposals for the Defense Enclave Services (DES) contract, an $11 billion, 10-year contract that will be key to IT modernization and consolidation among the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Fourth Estate agencies. […]
The House of Representatives will vote Dec. 9 on a one-week extension of the continuing budget resolution (CR) which is set to run out on Dec. 11 – avoiding an imminent Federal government shutdown for a lack of funding. […]
The House of Representatives has passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2021 today. The bill passed with a veto-proof majority, undercutting President Trump threats on Twitter to veto the ‘must-pass’ legislation. […]
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced its new Hacking for Homeland Security (H4HS) Program today, which aims to leverage university students to take new approaches and create unique solutions for agency-identified issues. […]
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is soliciting public comment through Feb. 1, 2021, on a proposed rule for the permanent digitization of public records. The agency – which publicly posted the proposed rule on Dec. 1 – said the measure is integral to civilian agencies going fully paperless by December 2022. […]
The National Security Agency (NSA) released a cybersecurity alert on Dec. 7 warning that state-sponsored hackers based in Russia have been attacking remote workspaces and exploiting a vulnerability in a suite of VMware products. […]
The General Services Administration’s (GSA) Integrated Award Environment (IAE) program consolidates separate systems into the beta.SAM.gov website, but on April 26, 2021, the current SAM.gov will be integrated into the modernized beta.SAM.gov environment – with the term ‘beta’ being retired. […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released draft guidance targeted at cloud service providers (CSPs) to help them protect application containers in multi-tenant environments, taking a hardware-based approach to security. […]
Following the 11th hour exclusion of his bill to codify the Federal Risk Assessment and Management Program (FedRAMP) into law from must-pass defense legislation, Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., said he’s interested in giving the measure another push after the 117th Congress begins in January 2021. […]