The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) released the Final Rule for its Connecting Minority Communities (CMC) Pilot Program this week, to provide $268 million to historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges or Universities (TCUs), and minority-serving institutions (MSIs) to expand their broadband. […]

If 2020 was the year of the pandemic, then 2021 is shaping up as the year of the Big Hack. […]

The Department of Defense (DoD) is moving quickly on multiple tracks to harness cloud infrastructures to tackle a growing list of high-profile mission sets. Think global cloud strategies, DoD365 collaboration tools, multi-billion dollar AI development programs – and that’s just scratching the surface. […]

A nonprofit group is pushing for the creation of a National Advanced Industry and Technology Agency that would be responsible for creating policies to “ensure long-term U.S. advanced industry leadership,” according to a June 17 release. […]

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., reintroduced legislation today that would create the Data Protection Agency (DPA), which would serve as an independent Federal agency intended to safeguard Americans’ data and privacy and ensure fair and transparent data practices. […]

The cybersecurity executive order (EO) signed by President Joe Biden is requiring Federal agencies to make plans for implementing zero trust architectures to strengthen cybersecurity postures and the directive is being largely seen as a positive by agency experts. […]

The United States has some of the most significant cyber capabilities in the world, but Department of Defense (DoD) leaders today agreed that cybersecurity is an area where the United States is “vulnerable” and still has “a lot more work to do” when it comes to developing cyber capabilities. […]

As Federal agencies transition to all-Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) systems, having solid security policies and determining how security teams can monitor the IPv6 transition is essential to fully implementing steps to complete the transition, IT industry officials said on June 16. […]

While the Federal government certifies cloud vendors as secure through the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), an official at the Government Accountability Organization (GAO) shared striking statistics about agencies going outside of the program for cloud vendors, which can lead to vulnerabilities. […]

President Biden said today that he spent “a great deal of time” discussing cybersecurity issues with Russian President Vladimir Putin at their three-hour summit meeting held June 16, and central to that discussion was President Biden’s assertion that critical infrastructure should be off limits to any attacks. […]

Legislation introduced by members of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology would require the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) to establish a national science and technology strategy. […]

Witnesses at today’s House Small Business Committee hearing stressed that community-based broadband expansion solutions are key to ensuring small businesses can best utilize broadband capabilities. […]

The road to Federal agencies implementing zero trust security architecture – one of the overriding goals of President Biden’s cybersecurity executive order – leads unavoidably through completion of the transition to a network infrastructure that relies on all-IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) address protocols, Federal IT officials emphasized today. […]

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Census Bureau successfully ramped up its use of automation, internet-driven outreach, and other emerging technology tools to conduct the decennial census, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). […]

Federal intelligence community leaders agree that as the Federal government slowly starts to return to the office for in-person work, managers and supervisors will need to help lead a “cultural shift” within agencies to normalize remote work and rethink performance management. […]

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) organization is looking to upgrade its IT architecture by consolidating its IT systems into a single architecture on the ServiceNow platform. […]

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee today approved by voice vote the Biden administration’s nominees to lead the General Services Administration (GSA), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and to take the role of National Cyber Director. […]

The Transportation Security Agency (TSA) is in the process of developing another cybersecurity directive for critical infrastructure pipeline owners and operators, following the initial directive it issued to them following the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack. […]

A secure software supply chain has become essential to fulfilling government missions. Massive cyberattacks like SolarWinds highlight the serious risks to the enterprise that insecure software can create. […]

Federal Chief Data Officers (CDO) examined the processes, technologies, and strategies that should be in place to help agencies not just manage data but master and leverage it as a strategic asset, during AFCEA Bethesda’s Breakfast Webinar series on June 15. […]

The U.S. Army’s Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville and Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth testified in front of Senate Armed Services Committee today and said the Army is due for a large-scale modernization effort, but emphasized there are still unfunded modernization requirements that were not met with the Army’s FY2022 budget request. […]

Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., chair of the House Homeland Security Committee’s Cybersecurity Subcommittee, said today she hopes Congress will provide further funding for IT modernization and cybersecurity improvements to build on the recent $1 billion infusion into the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF), and the extra $650 million provided to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in the American Rescue Plan Act. […]

Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Angus King, I-Maine, introduced a bipartisan bill that aims to close the digital divide and promote “digital equity” utilizing $250 million in annual grants, according to a press release. […]

The Department of Defense’s (DoD) Office of the DoD Chief Information Officer has released its Outside the Continental United States (OCONUS) Cloud Strategy, which strives to enable an all-domain advantage for international operations through cloud innovation. […]

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) is employing the Defense Enterprise Office Solution (DEOS) – an enterprise commercial cloud service supporting the Defense Department (DoD) enterprise – to implement the DoD 365 Joint (DoD365-J) Tenant project, officials said today. […]

As government agencies shape their goals and priorities for the new administration, they continue to target waste, fraud, and abuse. Rob Owens, deputy inspector general for Management and Policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), explained this week how HHS is targeting waste, fraud, and abuse by utilizing geospatial analytics and visualization as part of a Geographic Information System (GIS). […]

The FBI is looking to issue a five-year indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) award for a contractor to support the Office of the CIO in enhancing its enterprise systems, tools, and services to advance its mission. […]

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has awarded Cisco a new $1.18 billion contract, the Department of Defense (DoD) announced June 14. […]

The SolarWinds software supply chain hack – disclosed in December 2020 – represented a new scale of nation-state cyber aggression, with thousands of organizations compromised, including at least nine Federal agencies. And just last month, the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack further highlighted the national security risks created by cyber aggression. […]

Cybersecurity in general, and ransomware in specific, climbed high onto the ladder of major policy issues at both the weekend meeting of G-7 nations this weekend, and the NATO Summit that concluded on June 14. […]