The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Transportation Security Administration (TSA) today issued a second Security Directive aimed at securing critical pipelines that transport hazardous liquids and natural gas from cyber intrusions, in response to recent cybersecurity threats against U.S. pipeline systems. […]

A senior Biden administration official said on July 18 that an important mandate under the administration’s Cybersecurity Executive Order – deployment of multifactor authentication and encryption technologies across Federal civilian networks – could be “fully deployed within six months.” […]

Without a secure, reliable, and trustworthy digital identity system for people, entities, and things, the increasingly digital new reality is vulnerable to attacks, threatening individual safety and national security. […]

The Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) is partnering with Microsoft to use cloud-based tools and artificial intelligence (AI) to increase the scalability of ERDC’s coastal storm modeling system, ERDC announced July 14. […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Office of Information and Technology is seeking a contractor to maintain an Authority to Operate (ATO) for the Social Security Numbers Reduction (SSNR) Tool in the VA Enterprise Cloud (VAEC) environment. […]

The U.S. Coast Guard expanded its telework capabilities to protect employees during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but the service branch needs to ensure it is auditing data derived from Coast Guard staff self-reporting telework use and health statuses. […]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released guidance outlining security measures for critical software and minimum standards for vendors’ testing of their software source code as part of the agency’s assignments under the Biden administration’s executive order (EO) on cybersecurity. […]

The Biden administration took formal steps today to pin the Microsoft Exchange software supply chain hack disclosed earlier this year on people connected with the Chinese government’s Ministry of State Security (MSS).  […]

Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., Tim Kaine, D-Va., Ben Cardin, D-Md., Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, reintroduced the Chai Suthammanont Remembrance Act on July 14, which requires government agencies to establish COVID-19 safety plans to protect Federal workers returning to the office. […]

The White House announced today it will nominate National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) veteran Laurie Locascio to serve as the next under secretary of Standards and Technology for the Department of Commerce. The post typically comes with a dual-title of NIST Director. […]

Major General Ryan Heritage was named commander of the United States Marine Corps (USMC) Cyberspace Command July 7, the unit announced. He will report directly to Gen. Paul Nakasone, who heads up the U.S. Cyber Command. […]

Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y., ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, called for increased funding for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), saying CISA “needs to be a $5 billion agency in the next five years.” […]

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel outlined the future of 5G technologies today and how 5G will help bridge the digital divide, saying the possibilities of the technology extend “far beyond just the smartphone.” […]

Creating a winning Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) proposal includes thoughtfully crafting a business case, and detailing how the proposal aligns with the agency’s mission, said Deputy Federal CIO Maria Roat on July 15 at IBM’s Think Gov Digital 2021 event. […]

Federal agency chief information security officers (CISOs) talked about several aspects of the Biden administration’s cybersecurity executive order (EO) during a July 15 FedInsider webinar in which they flagged steps agencies should be taking to meet the order’s requirements. […]

5G wireless technology testbeds designed for military training applications with augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have been deployed to U.S. Army military bases by Samsung and GBL Systems Corporation. […]

Bicameral, bipartisan legislation introduced by four lawmakers this week aims to create international security standards with American allies for emerging technology research such as AI and quantum science. […]

Senate-approved legislation that would boost Federal funding for U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturing and provide the National Science Foundation (NSF) with another $52 billion over five years for research initiatives received strong endorsements from private sector witnesses at a July 15 Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing. […]

Astrophysicist Jedidah Isler has been named the new assistant director of the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Opportunity and Engagement at the Science & Society Division within the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). […]

While teleworking during the pandemic, women have had to balance work and home responsibilities while still attempting to achieve corporate goals and managing teams and customer needs. Women in the Federal sector discussed the positives and negatives of telework, and the urgency to have women rejoin the workforce on July 14 during a Women in Leadership Forum hosted by ACT-IAC. […]

As artificial intelligence (AI) adoption continues to grow across the Federal government, officials said on July 15 it’s important to share lessons learned across the government, and spoke about the importance of operational and organization efficiencies in the AI adoption process. […]

The U.S. State Department said on July 15 it is offering up to $10 million in reward money for information that leads Federal authorities to anyone who is conducting cyberattacks against U.S. critical infrastructure at the behest of foreign governments. […]

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on July 14 voted to approve the Civilian Cyber Security Reserve Act which would establish a pilot program to create a civilian reserve of cybersecurity experts that could be deployed to the Federal government as “surge capacity” in the event of significant security incidents. […]

The Department of Justice (DoJ) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have launched a one-stop shop at StopRansomware.gov for individuals, businesses, and organizations to help combat the increasing trend of ransomware attacks, the DoJ announced today. […]

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is finishing up a 90-day sprint geared toward further cloud service adoption, and the agency’s acting CIO advised other organizations during MeriTalk’s virtual Cloud Cafe event on July 15 to toss out the on-prem rulebook when planning for their own cloud transitions. […]

Michael Brown, who now heads the Defense Department’s (DoD) Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), has requested that his name be withdrawn from consideration as the nominee for Under Secretary for Acquisition and Sustainment at DoD. […]

With many more people teleworking in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cyberattack surfaces changed and expanded, and as many worked from home with Internet of Things (IoT) devices abandoned at the office, threat actors took advantage. Part of the fallout from those realities, according to two Zscaler studies, was that malware attacks on IoT devices connected to corporate networks increased by 700 percent year-over-year in 2020, compared to the firm’s 2019 study. […]

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Denis McDonough has called the recent VA Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) reports highlighting the Electronic Health Records Modernization (EHRM) program missteps “extremely disappointing,” but told members of Congress on July 14 that he is proposing a new approach for the program he hopes will get VA’s efforts “back on track.” […]

The Department of Defense’s (DoD) efforts to defend the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure in the U.S. require a stronger implementation strategy in its collaboration efforts with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), according to an audit by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). […]

Women have climbed the career ladder in government and achieved success through various strategies, from negotiation skills to networking and mentoring, but there’s still further to go. Female Federal leaders discussed the obstacles women face in achieving success, and the best practices to achieve success in the workplace, on July 14 during a Women in Leadership Forum hosted by the American Council for Technology-Industry Advisory Council. […]