Digital vaccine credentials can be used to certify that a person has been vaccinated or tested for COVID-19, but those tools come with challenges that can limit the use of the credentials including security and health data privacy concerns, the Federal government’s chief watchdog agency said. […]

Despite legislative requirements, many Federal websites are not accessible for people with disabilities, a report by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) found. The findings present an obstacle for millions of Americans, especially as the pandemic has forced many government services online. […]

The vast majority of IT leaders at the Defense Department (DoD) see an urgent need for the adoption of enterprise cloud services, but an even larger share say their path to enterprise cloud is blocked by continuing migration delays. […]

Nothing looms larger in the policy gunsights of the Biden administration than cybersecurity – both in the Federal and private sectors – and how to improve it. […]

The Biden administration is pushing hard to help fight the rise of ransomware attacks on private industry, and the White House is taking steps on multiple fronts to work with the private sector to combat the issue. […]

Vice President Kamala Harris announced the availability of nearly $1 billion in U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) grants to expand broadband access and adoption on Tribal lands. […]

Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and James Lankford, R-Okla., introduced bipartisan legislation that aims to improve the customer experience of citizens when using government programs and strengthen trust in the government. […]

According to a U.S. Army spokesperson, the military branch has rescinded a policy that restricted Internet of Things (IoT) devices from telework environments to prevent data leaks and protect the privacy of critical unclassified information, personally identifiable information, and operational data. […]

Federal agencies looking to transition from artificial intelligence (AI) research and development (R&D) to operations must overcome challenges both unique to their agencies, as well as governmentwide obstacles. […]

Federal chief data officers (CDOs) agree that if agencies can move from a system-centric model to a data-centric model, they will be able to get a better understanding of the data they have and will be better positioned to meet mission needs. […]

A newly issued Office of Inspector General (OIG) report shows that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was making only limited progress in implementing the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program in several years leading up to an audit completed in 2020, but has since taken action on several recommendations from the OIG that puts the agency in better position to benefit from CDM. […]

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, sent letters to ransomware victims Colonial Pipeline Company and CNA Financial Corporation to get more information on their respective decisions to pay ransoms, the committee announced today. […]

The Department of Treasury’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a request for information (RFI) seeking software cybersecurity tools that can work with an older version of programming language the agency uses, known as common business-oriented language, or COBOL.  […]

The continued flurry of high-profile ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure targets in the United States is climbing the ladder of presidential priorities – with President Biden saying it’s on the agenda for his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin later this month, and White House officials confirming that cryptocurrency will be part of a new examination of global corruption. […]

Over the years, many government agencies have undergone significant digital growth. But while they were “doing digital” and leveraging digital technologies to enhance their capabilities, they still primarily relied on traditional operating models. […]

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is looking at unclassified data sources to broaden its understanding of climate change – an issue that one NGA official said this week will become a primary agency focus going forward. […]

The General Services Administration (GSA) has awarded a five-year, $674 million contract to Booz Allen Hamilton to support the growth of the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Advana data analytics platform to improve decision making across the organization. […]

The Department of Labor (DOL) – and numerous state governments that the agency assists – struggled during the coronavirus pandemic to ramp up unemployment insurance (UI) programs to meet sharp increases in demand.  Some of the principal culprits, according to DOL’s inspector general (IG), were legacy systems, insufficient staffing resources to manage increased unemployment claims, and unclear and untimely Employment and Training Administration (ETA) guidance. […]

The IRS is successfully using a new authority from Congress to streamline and expedite the hiring process for bonus-eligible IT hires, according to a report from the Treasury Inspector General to Tax Administration (TIGTA). […]

House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and several chairs of the panel’s key subcommittees today asked inspectors general (IGs) from ten Federal agencies for assessments of any cybersecurity vulnerabilities that were created or worsened by the use of telework systems during the coronavirus pandemic, and whether any such vulnerabilities have been mitigated. […]

A senior official with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said today the Federal government’s process of modernizing its IT systems to achieve better cybersecurity may be a decades-long process. […]

Dave Zvenyach, director of the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Technology Transformation Services (TTS) organization, shared insights today on how to become a better digital leader while working remotely, along with tools and methods he uses to do so. […]

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is seeking feedback on what to include in its Software Bill of Materials (SBOM), as directed by President Biden’s cybersecurity executive order. […]

Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Ca., introduced a bill on June 1 that looks to improve the cybersecurity infrastructure of government contractors, his office announced. The Improving Contractor Cybersecurity Act would require any vendor looking to do business with the Federal government to have vulnerability disclosure policies (VDP) in place. […]

Now that there are real dollars beginning to finally accompany the many voices calling for government IT modernization, it’s perfect timing for Marianne Bellotti’s new book, “Kill It with Fire,” which cautions against the headlong approach the title connotes. She conveys this quite succinctly in the book’s pithy epigraph – with a quote from Ellen Ullman, a fellow author and computer programmer: “We build our computer systems the way we build our cities: over time, without a plan, on top of ruins.” […]

The Biden administration is publicly demonstrating its willingness to lend Federal help to respond to a variety of ransomware assaults against critical infrastructure sectors – the latest involving a cyberattack against JBS USA, the world’s largest meatpacker, that forced the company reportedly to shut down nine of its plants. […]

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is seeking innovative research concepts into how repressive regimes suppress the free flow of information. […]

The Department of Justice (DoJ) and Microsoft are arguing for a shorter duration of any further legal proceedings before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims over the Defense Department’s (DoD) Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud services contract it re-awarded to Microsoft last year. […]

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris submitted the President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 budget request to congress which includes $715 billion of which is allocated for the Department of Defense (DoD) to bolster the Pentagon’s technological capabilities, among other objectives. […]

Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Nancy Mace, R-S.C., introduced legislation on May 28 that would create a cybersecurity personnel rotation program in an effort to strengthen the United States’ Federal cyber workforce and infrastructure. […]