Cyberattacks that use encrypted channels to bypass legacy security controls rose by 260 percent from the beginning of 2020 through September, with the healthcare sector seeing the biggest industry-specific jump in targeted attacks, according to research released this week by cloud security provider Zscaler based on insights sourced from 6.6 billion encrypted threats across the Zscaler cloud. […]
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Office of Inspector General (OIG) said in a memorandum that it plans to audit the security of the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) financial management systems. […]
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)’s program to collect injury data reached beyond its bounds and did not adequately ensure the quality of data coming in, according a report released by the CSPC Inspector General on November 9. […]
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, issued a warning to the Trump administration late Thursday to leave in place senior leadership at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and other national security agencies “to ensure the security and continuity of government operations” for the incoming administration of President-Elect Biden. […]
Election security leaders including Bob Kolasky, Director of the National Risk Management Center at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), late Thursday pronounced the November 3 election as “the most secure in American history,” and said they found no evidence of voting system compromises, or changed votes. […]
Federal IT modernization has been a hot topic for years, but the demands of today’s new working world are pushing the pace even faster. During the COVID-19 pandemic, agencies rapidly scaled technology efforts in order to adjust and continue the mission. And consensus has emerged among major Federal agencies on what has made this possible: cloud. […]
President-Elect Joe Biden today discussed with House and Senate Democratic leaders the need for urgent congressional action on further economic stimulus legislation to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. […]
As 5G wireless service innovation becomes more critical in various IT sectors, the opportunity to revolutionize Defense Department (DoD) operations, particularly developing Smart Bases, has become more apparent, military officials said today. […]
Bryan Ware, assistant director for cybersecurity at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), is leaving his post at the agency, a CISA spokesperson confirmed to MeriTalk. […]
The U.S. Army has launched Hack the Army 3.0, a bug bounty program that is intended to help safeguard the Department of Defense (DoD) and Army networks, systems and data. […]
The Department of Defense (DoD) has selected Dave McKeown as its new CISO, a DoD spokesperson confirmed to MeriTalk. […]
President-Elect Joe Biden has named Ron Klain White House Chief of Staff and Assistant to the President. Klain has been a senior advisor to the Biden for President campaign, and was Biden’s chief of staff from 2009 to 2011 when he was Vice President. […]
Fresh off its six-figure fundraising total supporting last week’s victory by President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Sen. Kamala Harris, GovTech4Biden is moving on to its next mission of providing government technology policy inputs to the Biden-Harris transition team and the incoming Congress. […]
MeriTalk connected with Kevin Griffith, Senior Director of DoD Operations at Red Hat to discuss how the Department of Defense (DoD) can drive mission-based value and improve operations with modern application development and delivery methodologies. […]
The General Services Administration’s (GSA) mismanagement of Federal contract employees Personal Identity Verification (PIV) cards has put GSA personnel, Federal property, and data at risk, according to a report from the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG). […]
As the Trump Administration winds down over the next couple months, President-elect Joe Biden and his transition team have begun appointing agency transition leads to ensure a smooth transition of power. “These teams are composed of highly experienced and talented professionals with deep backgrounds in crucial policy areas across the Federal government,” the Biden-Harris Transition […]
The new draft budget bills released by the Senate Committee on Appropriations on November 10 include multiple provisions across departments that will have implications for Federal IT and other modernization projects. […]
The U.S. Air Force (USAF) is seeking information on Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) cloud-based application development for its propulsion systems. […]
The U.S. Army’s Enterprise Cloud Environment, or cARMY, managed by the CIO Enterprise Cloud Management Office (ECMO) is seeking an Enterprise Cloud Common Shared Services to reduce complexity, increase security, eliminate duplication of effort, and increase Army-wide adoption of cloud computing technologies. […]
The Treasury Department is proposing a new rule that would make definitional changes to incorporate cyber coverage guidance in Terrorism Risk Insurance Program (TRIP) regulations. […]
General Dynamics’ big investment two years ago – which roughly doubled the size of its information technology business – appears to be paying hefty dividends based on a recent string of prominent Federal government contract wins, and a look into financial results the company released late last month. […]
The Defense Department (DoD) is launching a new mobile app that will have the capability to connect service members, their families, and survivors to everyday resources to help with their well-being. […]
The Pentagon plans to continue use of its commercial virtual remote (CVR) capability – that has helped enable telework for the military during the coronavirus pandemic – until June of 2021, a senior Defense Department (DoD) tech official reaffirmed today. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) successful shift to telework at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic allowed the department to meet the mental health needs of veterans with its Veterans Crisis Line (VCL). […]
With most of the results from the 2020 Election now in, MeriTalk is taking a look at Fed IT leadership changes in both the House and Senate. While the majority of top leaders won their elections handily, a handful either lost or chose not to run for reelection, and for two leaders the race remains too close to call. […]
The draft appropriations bills released by the Senate Committee on Appropriations today would put a pay freeze in place for civilian Federal employees in fiscal year 2021 – falling below even the Trump administration’s one percent pay increase proposal – while providing a three percent pay raise for members of the military, which matches the number from the White House. […]
Amid a shift to telework due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) is urging its Reserve Citizen Airmen to stay laser focused on Personally Identifiable Information (PII) breach reduction while working from home. […]
The Senate Committee on Appropriations has allocated $25 million of new funding for the Technology Modernization Fund – falling below the Trump administration’s budget request of $150 million – as part of the broader draft fiscal year 2021 Financial Services and General Government funding bill released today. […]
A new report from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Information and Communication Technology Supply Chain Risk Management Task Force finds several factors contributing to IT supply chain problems during the coronavirus pandemic. […]
What if moving an entire network to the cloud was easy? […]