Limited collection of Medicaid data by states is standing in the way of a complete analysis of opioid misuse and abuse within the program, according to an August 15 report from the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS’) Office of Inspector General (OIG). […]

Zero trust is a simple concept – don’t trust anyone; verify everyone; do it continually – with a more complex goal of ensuring the right people have the right level of access to the right resources in the right context. The model has gained traction across industries, with giants like Google declaring that their internal private network is just as dangerous as the internet. The concept is also gaining momentum within Federal agencies. […]

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) found that while IT risk management practices are improving for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), mitigation documentation and oversight practices need to be improved. […]

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) reorganization led to gaps in the agency’s compliance with IT policies for its Enterprise Customer Service Solution (ECSS) system, according to an EPA OIG report released August 19. […]

In the acquisition process for Federal IT, agencies are trying to secure their supply chains in myriad ways, and that includes taking great caution with acquiring refurbished equipment. […]

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) CTO Ed Simcox said at MeriTalk’s Cloud Connect 2019 event today that HHS has melded its IT principles with cloud and data analytics capabilities to develop an application program interface (API) that gives citizens power over their healthcare data. […]

Nearly 20 years after the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) first identified the need to modernize its scheduling system, VA is on track to adopt a permanent scheduling solution as part of its electronic health record (EHR) modernization effort, according to a report from VA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) today. […]

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and credit scoring company FICO released its Q2 Assessment of Business Cyber Risk (ABC) report on Aug. 19. […]

Guy Cavallo, deputy CIO at the Small Business Administration (SBA), said today that his agency has made significant strides toward IT modernization by employing cloud services, and artificial intelligence (AI) tools provided by SBA’s cloud vendors to improve network security. […]

After seeing the Alliant 2 Small Business governmentwide acquisition contract (GWAC) awards rescinded due to a court challenge, the General Services Administration (GSA) released a list of proposed changes to the contract on August 19, expanding the number of awards. […]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will be releasing the second volume of an engineering-based guidance that aims at assisting organizations with Advanced Persistent Threats (APT) on September 5, 2019. […]

Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, confirmed to MeriTalk that he will reintroduce the Advancing Cybersecurity Continuing Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) Act. His office said to expect the bill “within the next month or so.” […]

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is creating a pilot program to test new data standards for the data collected in non-clinical studies funded by the agency, FDA announced in an upcoming Federal Register post. […]

The Commonwealth of Texas has earned the dubious honor of being the latest state or local government hit by a successful ransomware attack. The Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) confirmed on Aug. 16 that at least 23 local government entities were hit by a “coordinated” ransomware attack. DIR said it will lead the cybersecurity response to the attack. […]

Researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology and Ohio State University, with National Science Foundation (NSF) funding, developed an automated system to vet cloud servers and software library systems to bolster mobile app security. […]

U.S. Navy Undersecretary Thomas Modly announced last week that the Navy will restructure the service branch’s CIO position, including having the CIO concurrently serve as a special assistant to the Secretary of the Navy. […]

Principle Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for intelligence Kari Bingen, has sad that the security clearance backlog has been cut in half after a high point of 725,000 in April 2018. […]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced on Aug. 16 that it will delay action on several cybersecurity-related standards. […]

The Federal government saw a 12 percent reduction in cybersecurity incidents in fiscal year 2018, and no “major” cybersecurity incidents for the year, according to the Office of Management and Budget’s annual report on the Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA). […]

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) issued an Aug. 15 provisional authorization that would enable Defense Department (DoD) components and mission partners to streamline cloud authorizations. […]

A significant percentage of surveyed working adults do not grasp or implement basic cybersecurity concepts and practices, according to Proofpoint’s recently released 2018 User Risk Report. […]

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) launched the Department of Defense (DoD) Secure Access File Exchange (SAFE) on Aug. 15, which will provide users with an enterprise-wide ability to safely transfer files in the DoD. […]

While “large impactful [cyber] incidents” are on the rise, there are fewer “high-profile public disclosures,” according to a FireEye’s year’s M-Trends 2019 Report, which is based on FireEye Mandiant’s investigations of the most interesting and impactful cyberattacks of 2018. […]

The General Services Administration (GSA) will begin moving FedBizOpps.gov, the Federal source for contracting opportunities, to beta.SAM.gov starting Nov. 8. […]

The Army is establishing new cyber and electronic warfare units for multi-domain operations, but the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the branch has not fully assessed the risk of activating some of its units at an accelerated pace and is facing staffing, equipping, and training challenges. […]

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) hopes to test Accelerate – the first block-chain based program in the Federal government to get an authority-to-operate – in the coming fall and rollout the portal fully in the beginning of 2020. […]

The Department of Energy (DoE) upgraded its Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model (C2M2) to help measure how organizations effectively protect themselves from cyber threats. […]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), in partnership with the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), announced on Aug. 14 the release of the 2019 National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM) Toolkit. […]

A cyber threat landscape report released today found that the shifting cyber landscape has led threat actors to adjust operations strategically, operationally, and technically. […]

For harnessing the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, Federal agencies are focusing attention on “low-hanging fruit,” or easily solvable problems, as a strategic approach to utilizing the emerging technologies. […]