Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
Gerry Connolly

Attorney General William Barr on March 16 ordered U.S. Attorney’s Offices to prioritize detection and prosecution of coronavirus-related fraud. […]

Telehealth
Department of Homeland Security DHS

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) needs to better consider information collected on non-citizen family members apprehended at the southwestern U.S. border and develop unique identifiers to be shared across DHS component agency data systems to better link family members together,  government watchdog said. […]

Telehealth

As more healthcare providers pivot to telehealth appointments to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will let providers use tech that may not be compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to communicate with patients. […]

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) told Federal agencies in a March 17 memo  to “maximize telework across the nation for the Federal workforce” due to the COVID-19 coronavirus, marking a significant shift from previous guidance which had included that mandate only for the Federal workforce in the National Capital Region surrounding Washington, D.C. […]

Treasury

A follow-up audit by the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) on corrective actions taken by DoD regarding its Cyber Red Team found that it did not consistently mitigate or include unmitigated vulnerabilities identified in the prior audit or during this audit. […]

In September 2019, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released its Zero Trust Architecture draft, setting the tone for the future of Federal cybersecurity and a move toward enterprise-wide zero trust implementation. […]

Dale Cabaniss on March 17 submitted her resignation as director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), a position she held since only last September, according to a knowledgeable source and news reports. […]

Originally scheduled as a panel discussion at South by Southwest, three representatives from government agencies shared their work transforming data collections for greater use and benefit. […]

NIST

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) updated Special Publication 800-53, the agency’s main security guidance, for the first time in seven years with new recommendations on supply chain, privacy, and cyber resiliency. […]

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of 16 senators pushed Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai to temporarily allow schools to use the E-Rate program funding to provide Wi-Fi hotspots or devices with Wi-Fi capability to students who lack internet access at home. […]

5G wireless infrastructure technology

The Defense Department (DoD) announced late Monday the appointment of William Lietzau as Director of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) that oversees nearly all security clearance processes for the Federal government. […]

Public sector organization can’t bet on luck when it comes to the cloud, but smart helps – specifically OMB’s Cloud Smart policy, according to MeriTalk’s newly released “Smart > Lucky: Pillars to Fed and SLED Cloud Success” report. […]

White House
elections, voting, election security, midterms

With COVID-19 dominating the national conversation, there has been growing discussion about how to reduce crowds and lines at polling places during the 2020 election cycle. One possibility is to enable voting via smartphones. However, cybersecurity experts remain incredibly cautious given security concerns. […]

Following reports of a possible cyberattack late Sunday night, officials at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and at the Department of Defense (DoD) prep Federal networks for an uptick in cyberthreats as employees move to telework to fight the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. […]

COVID-19

Verily Life Sciences plans to begin offering online COVID-19 coronavirus screening and information services to parts of the San Francisco area today, separate from virus information site efforts by its sister company Google. […]

FCC

More than 65 communications service providers have signed on to the Keep Americans Connected Pledge issued by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai to promote sustained connectivity during disruptions caused by the coronavirus. […]

DoD Pentagon Military

The Department of Defense (DoD) released the final version of its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) in January 2020, but without certification processes in place, third-party entities are offering fraudulent CMMCs to contractors interested in working with the department. […]

COVID-19

It was a fast-moving weekend for the Federal government and its evolving responses to, and planning for, impact of the spreading COVID-19 coronavirus.  Here’s a quick look at some of the top developments of interest to the Federal IT community: […]

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in a memo dated March 15 asked Federal agency and department heads to offer “maximum telework flexibilities” to all current telework-eligible Federal employees in the National Capital Region (NCR). […]

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