Welcome to MeriTalk News Briefs, where we bring you all the day’s action that didn’t quite make the headlines. No need to shout about ‘em, but we do feel that they merit talk. […]
Wayne Belk, director of the National Insider Threat Task Force (NITTF), said today at an event hosted by Nextgov and Equifax that his unit in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is now working with the Defense Department to clarify and strengthen the roles of the Federal government’s insider threat staff, beginning with its security analysts. […]
Carol Harris, director for information technology acquisition management issues at the Government Accountability Office (GAO), will take over the FITARA-related responsibilities of Dave Powner–GAO’s departing director of IT issues–while Nick Marinos, director of cybersecurity and information management at GAO, will pick up Powner’s responsibilities on Census issues, GAO confirmed to MeriTalk. […]
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Monday convened a conference call with the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) and the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) regarding cybersecurity and ongoing threats to the 2018 midterm elections. […]
Bill Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said today that the billions of dollars the U.S. government and private sector spend each year on cybersecurity are not being properly and efficiently utilized unless government and industry wrap human resources departments tightly into security discussions. […]
Supply chains increasingly are being targeted by attackers, according to Accenture’s Cyber Threatscape Report. […]
Charles Phalen, director of the National Background Investigations Bureau (NBIB), said today at an event hosted by NextGov and Equifax that he supports a proposal in the President’s government reform and reorganization plan to move NBIB “in its entirety from the Office of Personnel Management into the Department of Defense.” […]
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) announced yesterday the appointment of Air Force Colonel Bradley Barnhart as the new chief of staff at DISA. […]
Ninety-seven percent of Federal finance and procurement professionals feel they aren’t fully prepared for the Modernizing Government Technology (MGT) Act and the new creative vehicles it provides agencies to fund IT modernization initiatives, according to a new study. […]
Federal agencies must build “identity-aware” infrastructures to effectively monitor and manage user access to information and information systems across their enterprise for more secure and efficient operations, according to cybersecurity experts. […]
U.S. Census Bureau CIO Kevin Smith said that the Department of Homeland Security performed penetration tests this year that were unable to break through Census’ data safeguards, confirming the strength of Census’ cybersecurity programs for both its self-response website and in-field mobile devices. […]
Welcome to MeriTalk News Briefs, where we bring you all the day’s action that didn’t quite make the headlines. No need to shout about ‘em, but we do feel that they merit talk. […]
The Department of Justice announced the expansion of its Tribal Access Program (TAP), which will allow Tribal governments to access and share more data with the Federal government. […]
The Department of Defense is getting on board with some critical website and email protections that have been mandated across civilian Federal government agencies, even if it is lagging somewhat behind other departments in applying encryption and anti-phishing measures. […]
Department of Homeland Security Under Secretary Chris Krebs, head of the agency’s National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD), has named Bob Kolasky to serve as director of the newly-established National Risk Management Center (NRMC), a DHS official confirmed to MeriTalk today. […]
A new study released today by MeriTalk and underwritten by Pure Storage finds that Federal agencies are highly aware of challenges they face in harnessing and analyzing data, and that artificial intelligence (AI) offers an opportunity to change how government handles and processes data. […]
Welcome to MeriTalk News Briefs, where we bring you all the day’s action that didn’t quite make the headlines. No need to shout about ‘em, but we do feel that they merit talk. […]
Brad Nix, senior advisor at the Department of Homeland Security’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC), said Thursday at MeriTalk’s Cyber Security Brainstorm that DHS’s establishment earlier this week of its new National Risk Management Center represents “an acknowledgement on our end that there is more to be done” to assess risk faced by critical infrastructure sectors–some of whom have less-well developed abilities to detect and respond to threats. […]
The NIST Small Business Cybersecurity Act, S. 770, is heading to President Trump’s desk where he is expected to sign it into law soon. […]
Federal IT leaders discussed the ways their organizations are tackling the proliferation of more and more endpoints on Federal networks at MeriTalk’s Cyber Security Brainstorm Thursday. In particular, ever-increasing mobile connectivity is creating the potential for further headaches, but the officials advised that next-gen technologies and proper network and data governance provide avenues to expand the ways employees work without compromising security at the network edge. […]
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., wants to understand what the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has learned from Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Confirmation (DMARC) reports about cyber criminals using email to impersonate Federal agencies. […]
In a report released Thursday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that no Federal agency has created policies that fully address the CIO’s role within Federal laws and guidelines, due to gaps in guidance, funding and authority. […]
Paul Beckman, chief information security officer at the Department of Homeland Security, said Thursday at MeriTalk’s Cyber Security Brainstorm that software-defined networking, adopting a zero-trust model, and optimizing DHS’ security operations centers (SOC) are his biggest emerging priorities to promote better security across the department. […]
Joanne Collins Smee, the director of Technology Transformation Services (TTS) and deputy commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service (FAS), will leave the General Services Administration (GSA) at the end of August, the agency announced. […]
Welcome to MeriTalk News Briefs, where we bring you all the day’s action that didn’t quite make the headlines. No need to shout about ‘em, but we do feel that they merit talk. […]
A report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) finds that the IRS failed to follow FITARA guidelines when purchasing new IT equipment and reporting on the FITARA scorecard. […]
The Library of Congress awarded Accenture a new contract to build a data center, with an estimated contract value of $27.3 million over the performance period, including a one-year base and an additional two one-year options. Accenture Federal Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Accenture, will migrate the Library of Congress and the U.S. Copyright Office’s current data center to new hosting environments. […]
Former U.S. Chief Information Security Officer Greg Touhill today called on Congress and the Trump administration to work together to take “bold action” to advance Federal government IT modernization, arguing that investments in modernization would pay off with a host of benefits including better IT security. […]
MeriTalk today announced the winners of its inaugural FITARA Awards program, recognizing six Federal agencies who have made tremendous strides in modernizing their IT environments and one congressional leader who has worked tirelessly to promote the reform of IT acquisitions and adoption of cyber best practices. […]
Obstacles to data sharing are holding back the potential for artificial intelligence (AI) in Federal agencies. However, the use cases and potential of AI makes it worth the struggle, according to experts. […]