Although zero trust has become a bit of a buzzword in the IT world, experts agree that zero trust is “foundational” to all security approaches and that foundation needs to continue to grow in tandem with emerging tech. […]
Today, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing to discuss the disparities in broadband access and affordability across the country with Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., calling for government intervention to invest where the marketplace doesn’t support broadband. […]
Members of a key House cybersecurity subcommittee and a panel of expert witnesses agreed at a May 5 hearing on the pressing need to disrupt ransomware-driven cyber attacks, and aired a variety of strategies to more toward that goal. […]
The Department of Defense’s (DoD) Cybersecurity Maturation Model Certification (CMMC) program is in the process of being rolled out to every contract in the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) over the next five years, and the program is expected to help organizations implement Zero Trust practices, Katie Arrington, the Pentagon’s CISO for acquisition and sustainment, said May 5. […]
The U.S. Army plans to equip its first unit with augmented reality headsets designed to keep soldiers safer with night vision and situational awareness capabilities by the first quarter of fiscal year 2022, according to two top Army officials. […]
In a move to modernize financial reporting to the government and enable AI capabilities across new data sets, Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., introduced a bill on May 4 that would make the information reported to Federal financial regulatory agencies electronically searchable. […]
The Department of State is eyeing its Enterprise Vulnerability Scanning Solution (EVSS) for a “technical refresh” to ensure cybersecurity officials at the agency can keep pace with vulnerabilities on State Department networks. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has been working hard to reduce the amount of fraud the agency faces when it comes to veterans’ benefits claims, and better leveraging data and AI has been helping in that fight, said Erick Zenteno, program manager of Fraud Prevention Services at VA. […]
Ransomware is being prioritized as the first of six “sprints” planned by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on a range of cyber threats due to the gravity of the problem, and because ransomware represents today’s threat, not tomorrow’s. […]
The Federal CDO Council is ready to release 10 data science training program use cases in a collaborative effort to educate Federal agencies on the best practices of data sharing, according to Ted Kaouk, the council chair and CDO at the Department of Agriculture. […]
MeriTalk recently connected with ViON’s David Kushner, senior vice president of sales, and Chip George, vice president of public sector at Nutanix, to talk tech during the pandemic and beyond. From the evolution of virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) to agencies’ demand for hybrid cloud, Kushner and George assess how government needs are changing and offer advice for agency IT executives looking ahead to 2022. […]
Deterrence of nation-state cyber adversaries comes in many flavors, but the operating model suggested this week by a House Armed Services Committee member lacks neither impact nor directness. […]
The Department of Defense (DoD) announced it is expanding its “Hack the Pentagon” program to include all publicly accessible DoD information systems. […]
The Department of Defense’s Inspector General (DoD IG) is taking a look at how the Pentagon is handling apparent evidence of Unexplained Aerial Phenomena (UAP) – or what are more commonly referred to as unidentified flying objects (UFOs). […]
In a broad agency announcement (BAA), the U.S. Army Research Office (ARO) announced it is seeking proposals to bring private and public sector experts together to collaborate on quantum solutions with their respective research infrastructures. […]
In recognition of Public Service Recognition Week – running from May 2-8 – President Biden issued a proclamation praising public servants at all levels of government and outlining his administration’s work to improve the Federal workforce. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, President Biden said public servants have “risen to the moment” and described them […]
Federal chief data officers (CDOs) agree that in order to move to a data-centric future, Federal agencies need to invest in a data-driven leadership and workforce as the “first step” in their digital modernization journeys. […]
Protecting the supply chain from hacks has been top of mind due to recent high-profile attacks, but members of the National Cyberspace Solarium say an area of critical infrastructure they are most concerned about is water security going forward. […]
Technology leaders in Congress and industry groups with a stake in Federal IT both applauded the Biden administration’s move today to relax Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) payback requirements in order to quickly put $1 billion of new funding to work to shore up agency cyber defenses and upgrade critical systems. The change in traditional TMF […]
New research on broadband accessibility found that 77 percent of Americans now have access to low-priced wired broadband plans in the first quarter of 2021. […]
Reps. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., reintroduced legislation this week to improve the United States’ electric grid security. The Cyber Sense Act and the Enhancing Grid Security through Public-Private Partnerships Act both direct the Department of Energy (DoE) to work with electric utilities toward the goal of improving security. […]
The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) is seeking “seedling” research topics for next-generation microelectronics in support of artificial intelligence (MicroE4AI). […]
The Plum Book, which lists all the positions appointed by the president, is currently released once every four years, but witnesses at a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing May 3 said that the publishing schedule hinders its effectiveness and needs to be modernized. […]
The Biden administration has loosened repayment terms for at least a portion of the $1 billion of Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) money approved by Congress in March and is asking Federal agencies to submit proposals by June 2 as it looks to quickly parcel the funding out to projects that will improve cybersecurity and modernize high-priority systems, among other aims. […]
Labor Secretary Marty Walsh told members of Congress last week that between $600 and $700 million of Federal funding approved under the American Rescue Plan Act will be used to pay for technical assistance to states to improve their unemployment insurance (UI) systems. […]
Pentagon, Federal civilian, and private sector experts are set to discuss the latest looks on […]
A bipartisan group of senators reintroduced the Protecting Resources On The Electric grid with Cybersecurity Technology (PROTECT) Act. The legislation would enhance electric grid security by incentivizing electric utilities to make cybersecurity investments, as well as establishing a Department of Energy (DoE) grant and technical assistance program to deploy advanced cybersecurity technology for utilities that are not regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). […]
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel on April 30 released a draft of a proposed order for the $7.17 billion Emergency Connectivity Fund, which would reimburse schools and libraries for their purchases of devices and broadband connections during the COVID-19 pandemic. […]
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is kicking off a new initiative with Federal and private partnerships to accelerate research in areas that affect Next-Generation (NextG) networking and computing systems, NSF announced April 27. […]
The Department of Justice (DoJ) is launching a four-month effort to reevaluate its strategies to combat cybersecurity threats in light of increases in ransomware and supply-chain attacks and the tendency of attackers to use U.S.-based infrastructure to launch their exploits, said the United States Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco on April 30 at a security conference in Germany. […]