The Army Futures Command (AFC) is currently developing new wearable identity authentication and authorization technologies, according to an Aug. 7 press release. […]

A U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) records management service has not only been collecting data and information on its own personnel, but of other Federal employees and members of the public. […]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released a plan on Aug. 10 to prioritize Federal agency engagement in developing standards for artificial intelligence (AI), just before the deadline of an executive order issued in February that gave the agency 180 days to develop a plan. […]

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and a series of other senators wrote Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai on Aug. 9 to urge the commission to protect consumers from cellphone fraud. […]

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is seeking to both expand facial recognition capabilities in its vetting of international travelers and migrate its traveler-processing technology to the cloud, according to an Aug. 8 CBP solicitation. […]

While the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program is here to stay for Federal agencies, taking proper approaches to data classification, collection, and analysis are key components to optimizing the program’s aims, security experts said last week at MeriTalk’s Cyber Security Brainstorm event. […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is not using its authority to exclude suppliers that pose a threat to its supply chain. While the agency is working on drafting recommendations to improve the usefulness of its authorities, it keeps pushing back when it will actually complete the recommendations, according to an August 8 report from GAO. […]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking Federal employees to apply for a new program the department is launching to train new CIOs and CISOs. […]

Susan Gordon, Principal Deputy Director for National Intelligence and a longtime member of the intelligence community, will be leaving the agency, and Joseph Maguire, director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), will become acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI), according to tweets from President Trump on August 8. […]

A team of Stanford University scientists, sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), are turning to birds to help them learn how to develop machines that can land like the feathered animals, according to an Aug. 8 NSF news release. […]

In a letter on Aug. 7, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., wrote to telecom giants AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon and urged them to store less sensitive customer data. […]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program will engage with small businesses in technological research and development Aug. 12-16 in the Southwest part of the National SBIR 2019 Road Tour. SBIR representatives will visit four cities – Tucson, El Paso, Albuquerque, and Boulder, Colo. – one per day in respective […]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is putting together a single contract vehicle that will award multiple vendors to manage DHS’ 17 unclassified security operations centers (SOCs). […]

As agencies move to the cloud and secure their data there, meeting the new challenges with innovative solutions is a great opportunity – as long as agencies abide by existing security baselines, said Federal IT leaders during MeriTalk’s Cybersecurity Brainstorm. […]

John Felker, who last month was named assistant director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Integrated Operations Division (IOD), on Thursday discussed IOD’s plans to integrate operations of CISA’s three primary component organizations in order to produce better cyber threat data intelligence that will include inputs from Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) programs implemented by Federal agencies. […]

FBI Cyber Readiness, Outreach, and Intelligence Branch Deputy Assistant Director Tonya Ugoretz stressed at today’s MeriTalk Cyber Security Brainstorm that robust and resilient Federal cybersecurity requires collaboration across agencies and non-government partners. […]

The Federal Acquisition Regulation will ban agencies from procuring equipment from five Chinese companies, including Huawei and ZTE, starting August 13, according to an interim rule published August 7. […]

With the year quickly coming to a close, the FedRAMP Authorization Act will be one of Rep. Gerry Connolly’s “big priorities” for legislation, with a markup session expected when the House returns from its August recess, Connolly said during MeriTalk’s Cyber Security Brainstorm today. […]

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its estimate for S. 406, the Federal Rotational Cyber Workforce Program Act of 2019, and found that it would cost less than $500,000 annually to implement. […]

After only two years since the U.S. Air Force’s (USAF) launched Kessel Run, its Branch Chief Erynn Petersen touted the success they have seen in providing USAF with agile and resilient cybersecurity responsiveness at MeriTalk’s Cyber Security Brainstorm today. Petersen also stressed how Kessel Run can pose as a model for other cybersecurity teams. […]

The Senate last week confirmed Thomas McCaffery as Assistant Secretary of Defense for health affairs. […]

Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Tom Cotton, R-Texas, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., wrote to Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Aug. 7 questioning the tech giant’s ties to China. […]

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a warning on Aug. 6 urging the public to “watch out for possible malicious cyber activity seeking to capitalize on” the recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. […]

The General Services Administration (GSA) recommends that agencies use IT Schedule 70 to procure solutions to implement Technology Business Management (TBM) practices – including advanced tools like artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics process automation (RPA) – alongside IT financial management solutions. […]

Federal agency approaches to identity management don’t have a single approach across the government, but vary to significant degrees with agencies’ mission focus, said LaChelle LeVan, Acting Director for Federal Identity, Credential and Access Management (ICAM) Program Office at the General Services Administration (GSA). […]

The Department of Justice (DoJ) announced Aug. 6 that it has extradited Muhammad Fahd, who allegedly bribed AT&T workers to plant malware and illegally unlock cell phones. […]

Officials from the Defense Department (DoD) highlighted supply chain and workforce and culture issues as two significant problems the agency faces in maintaining strong cybersecurity, during a panel discussion at FCW’s Cybersecurity Summit. […]

FBI Director Chris Wray announced Aug. 5 that Robert Bone will be special agent in charge of the Counterintelligence and Cyber Division of the Los Angeles Field Office. […]

Embassy Nassau, the American embassy to the Bahamas, has IT issues that are largely a result of embassy understaffing, according to an August 5 report from the State Department’s Inspector General. […]

Senior Security Architect for the General Services Administration’s (GSA’s) Technology Transformation Services (TTS) and Centers of Excellence (CoE) Dan Jacobs wants agencies and industry alike to heed the lessons GSA has learned from experience and the Black Hat conference over the past 16 years when it comes to securely implementing cloud. […]