As the COVID-19 pandemic continues into autumn, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has continued its effort to support veterans in crisis by partnering with customer experience management provider Medallia to launch the Veterans Signals program. […]
Given the Federal government’s rapid shift to telework since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the larger attack surface that working from home creates, there is a significantly greater need for government to take a fresh look at addressing the most fundamental cybersecurity challenges. […]
We sat down with Rob Davies, Executive Vice President of Operations, ViON; Rick Kryger, Deputy CIO, Operations & Acting Director, U.S. Department of Labor; and Sandy Krawchuk, Group Vice President, North America Public Sector,Cloud Infrastructure, Oracle Corporation to discuss how to best manage modernization requirements across the public sector and in Federal government including data center optimization, migrating applications to the cloud, and other key considerations for agencies. […]
The House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress approved its fifth and final package of recommendations last week to “to make Congress work better for the American people.” […]
Officials from the United States and the United Kingdom have signed a declaration to establish a government-to-government dialogue on artificial intelligence and further cooperation in AI research and development. […]
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is seeking feedback on its new agile development guide following the release of the draft publication today. […]
The Department of Defense (DoD) has had an ongoing problem – the cybersecurity of its defense industrial base contractors. An interim rule scheduled to be published in the Federal Register tomorrow is the department’s next step in addressing that problem. […]
Bipartisan legislation introduced in the House and Senate last week aims to reduce executive branch power over telecommunications and the internet by preventing the president from using emergency powers to shut those services down. […]
The 2020 decennial census is breaking new ground in several ways – it is the first census to be conducted primarily online, and it has been supported by the cloud. Alongside those advancements, a Census Bureau official explained last week that the 2020 census will mark the first major implementation of a new privacy regime. […]
A recent review by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) did not adequately protect sensitive data on an unencrypted device used during its Vehicle Face System pilot—a facial recognition technology pilot. […]
Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Ill., became the chair today of the House Committee on Homeland Security’s Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Innovation, one of the chamber’s primary panels with jurisdiction over cybersecurity issues. […]
Data from a Federal agency has been stolen in a cyber theft, according to an analysis report released Sept. 24 by the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The specific agency, timeframe of the intrusion, and thief are not identified in the report. […]
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) launched its own innovation lab this week, CIA Labs, to support in-house research and development (R&D) driving innovative science and technology to address intelligence challenges. […]
To combat phishing attacks that could crumble an entire agency’s cybersecurity safeguards at one employee’s incorrect click, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has launched a new method to understand why individuals fall for the malicious links. […]
Former government officials from the United States and around the world joined with technology companies and non-profit organizations in a call to prioritize digital trust and security addressed to the President of the United Nations General Assembly. […]
The White House is expected to soon announce the appointment of Basil Parker as Federal CIO, and Camilo Sandoval as Federal CISO, knowledgeable sources told MeriTalk. […]
The former Federal Chief Information Security Officer Grant Schneider drew on his nearly 28 years of government experience to explain how government information is secured now and offered his thoughts on where information security might be headed in the future. […]
The Bureau of the Fiscal Service within the Department of Treasury is looking to streamline the government financial processes by adopting emerging technologies with two cost-saving projects. […]
The Department of Energy (DOE) is releasing its annual solicitation for the Technology Commercialization Fund, dedicated to commercializing innovative energy technologies as a part of the agency’s partnership with the private sector. […]
The Government Accountability Office said in a report that in order to fully implement the White House’s National Cyber Strategy a “clarity of leadership” is “urgently needed.” […]
The FBI in conjunction with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a public service announcement to raise awareness about the potential for disinformation around the results of the elections, especially in the period after voting has occurred. […]
Several former commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission warned the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the consequences of delay in passing a Federal privacy standard during a hearing on Wednesday. […]
On Sept. 23, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released a “historic” update to its flagship security and privacy guidance, Special Publication (SP) 800-53, Security and Privacy Controls for Information Systems and Organizations. […]
General Services Administration (GSA) CIO David Shive and Government Accountability Office Director of IT and Cybersecurity Kevin Walsh agreed that the FITARA scorecard is meeting its intended goals, but detailed specific improvements like the addition of a Technology Business Management (TBM) score to boost its effectiveness. […]
As the U.S. faces increased foreign cyber threats, the Department of State said in 2019 that it would stand up a Bureau of Cyberspace Security and Emerging Technologies (CSET) to address these threats, but according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), State hasn’t informed or involved other partners in the bureau planning, which could increase risks of duplicating efforts. […]
Federal agencies, such as the Small Business Administration and National Oceanic Atmospheric Association, are realizing the scalability and cost benefits of a multi-cloud environment as they navigate remote work and service delivery. But, for agencies both new to and well-versed in the cloud, Booz Allen Hamilton cloud leaders John Pisano and Jimmy Pham are advising that governance from the get-go is a key consideration for making a multi-cloud environment more effective. […]
Six months into a highly successful make-or-break campaign to put the Federal government workforce on a remote-work footing to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, the hard-won experience of that battle has paved the way for renewed action on broader IT modernization, government and private sector officials said on a recent MeriTalk webinar. […]
Public sector security professionals have had an extremely busy six months juggling pandemic-driven security needs alongside the perennial objective of improving Federal agency security for the longer haul. […]
MeriTalk caught up with the Center for Democracy & Technology’s Director of the Data and Privacy Project Michelle Richardson, a witness for the committee back in April, to get her take on this week’s Senate hearing, what has changed recently in the privacy world, and the prospects for a Federal privacy standard. […]
In a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was found to not be taking enough action to protect information exchanged with affiliated agencies, contractors, and state, local, and tribal groups. […]