Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, a long-time champion of Federal IT legislation and oversight, announced August 1 that he will not be running for reelection in 2020, and instead will pursue opportunities in the private sector “at the nexus between technology and national security.” […]
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is seeking a subscription service that will help it monitor for potential threats on social media service while maintaining privacy rights, according to an amended request for proposal (RFP) published July 30. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office Inspector General (OIG) discovered in a July 31 report that a VA healthcare facility in Long Beach, California, failed to adhere to VA and Veterans Health Administration (VHA) privacy and security policies in the midst of a patient electronic health record (EHR) complication. […]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on August 1 voted to approve reports, orders, and notices of propose rulemaking that taken together aim to improve mapping the availability of “fixed” broadband service – the type generally provided by cable and phone companies – in the U.S. […]
The FCC on August 1 voted to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking seeking comment on a range of proposals that would establish a Rural Digital Opportunity Fund funded with up to $20.4 billion to subsidize the further buildout of broadband services to rural areas of the U.S. that don’t have widely available high-speed broadband service. […]
Government agencies are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance workforce capacity, improve mission effectiveness and drive operational efficiencies. In a July 30 FedInsider webinar, Federal IT leaders discussed the “building blocks” of AI in the Federal government. […]
The Senate, in a 67-28 vote today, passed a budget deal that raises Federal spending $320 billion over current levels and lifts the debt ceiling for two years, averting a shutdown. The Senate budget, which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called “a strong deal,” is a companion to the House’s budget, which emerged from […]
The FITARA (Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act) Scorecard issued twice per year by the House Oversight and Reform Committee is likely to see some changes in the near term due to the need for new data sources, new policies, and shifting congressional priorities, said Kevin Walsh, FITARA executive at the Government Accountability Office (GAO). […]
A lack of budgeted funds for cloud initiatives is slowing down Federal government cloud adoption, according to a report from Netwrix released today. […]
Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., on July 31, introduced a bill to combat illegal robocalls. […]
In response to the 2017 Cambridge Analytica scandal, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., introduced the Voter Privacy Act on July 31. The legislation would give voters greater control over how their personal information is used by political candidates and campaigns in Federal elections. Feinstein’s office said currently there is no Federal law regulating the collection and use of voter data by political organizations. […]
The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) released a draft interagency report to establish a core baseline guide for cybersecurity that manufacturers may adopt for Internet of Things (IoT) devices they produce. […]
The Senate on July 25 approved the Federal Agency Customer Experience Act (S. 1275), which would charge Federal agencies with gathering customer feedback about agency services, and to make some of that feedback data public. […]
The Department of Agriculture (USDA) has taken implementation of FITARA (Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act) to heart, making it part of performance plans, department policy, and gaining visibility across its IT environment, USDA officials explained July 31 at an ACT-IAC event. […]
Christopher Krebs, Director of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), today outlined a range of security concerns associated with deployment of 5G wireless networks in the U.S., and offered a list of top-level recommendations for government and industry to deal with them. […]
Sens. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, reintroduced the Advancing Cybersecurity Continuing Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) Act on July 30. […]
AI maturation and adoption should have elements of a natural process to prevent system rejection and enhance cybersecurity. […]
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) said it uncovered a transnational fraud ring that has impersonated DHS procurement officials in order to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars of IT equipment. […]
The Commerce Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) took the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) to task in a July 22 report that finds “control weaknesses” in FirstNet’s handling of a $336 million payment it made to its contractor AT&T. Separately, FirstNet said it has taken action to resolve the issue. […]
The state and local government sector is seeing strong growth in the adoption of DMARC email authentication, but still lags far behind the Federal government and has much room to improve, according to a recent report from Valimail. […]
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned in a July 30 alert that network protocols of aircraft can make them vulnerable to data manipulation. […]
Sens. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., introduced new legislation on July 30 that would require the State Department to investigate the potential benefits of establishing a cooperative U.S.-Israel Cybersecurity Center of Excellence. The bill, dubbed the U.S. -Israel Cybersecurity Center of Excellence Act, has garnered bipartisan support in the Senate, and Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., has already introduced a companion bill in the House. […]
Launched July 30, Data at the Point of Care is a new pilot program from the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the U.S. Digital Service that will assist healthcare providers in providing high quality care to Medicare beneficiaries by giving the providers easier access to a patient’s Medicare data for treatment. […]
Senators and Federal representatives spoke about the challenges of and potential solutions to issues in Federal hiring – including in cybersecurity and IT – at a Senate Homeland Security Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management Subcommittee hearing today. […]
In an effort to become a more modern and technologically advanced office, the U.S. Copyright Office is working on a pilot program for its digital recordation system, beginning in the spring of 2020. […]
During today’s Senate Banking, House, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing, legislators heard from experts from the private sector, government, and academia regarding regulations needed for blockchain technologies. […]
The Department of Defense (DoD) purchased $32.8 million of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) IT products with cybersecurity flaws using government purchase cards, exposing the lack of controls on purchasing COTS items, according to an inspector general report released July 26. […]
Microsoft announced July 29 that it acquired BlueTalon, a data privacy firm. […]
The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA),the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC), the National Governors Association (NGA), and the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) released new recommendations to help state, local, and tribal governments safeguard against ransomware, and urged governments to take “immediate action” to prevent attacks. […]
Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, pressed the Department of Homeland Security in a July 26 letter to deliver an overdue report on biometric identification technology viability. That report, the senators said, was due to be delivered on July 2. […]