The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has had a 900 percent increase in the use of Teams, Microsoft’s collaboration platform, and a 483 percent increase in the use of virtual private networks during the COVID-19 pandemic, a DHS official said. […]

More than 30 senators from both parties penned a letter to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., requesting $26 billion in funding for researchers in the next COVID-19 coronavirus stimulus package. […]

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued guidance on coronavirus-related disinformation in a new advisory to the private sector. The CISA Insight, “COVID-19 Disinformation Activity,” provides guidance on how to “deter false information and conspiracy theories related to COVID-19.” It will help users to fact-check information, minimize risk of […]

Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., introduced the Accountability for Acting Officials Act on May 1 to limit acting officials from serving for more than 120 days from the date of the vacancy. […]

Chief cybersecurity adviser for the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) IT Laboratory Donna Dodson is retiring May 8. […]

Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Chad Wolf appointed seven new members to the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) yesterday. […]

General Services Administration (GSA) Deputy CIO Beth Killoran said at a May 7 GSA webinar that the agency is looking ahead to the “potential opportunity” to boost the Federal government’s IT workforce after the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. […]

Most businesses are not providing additional security training during the COVID-19 pandemic despite greater numbers of employees teleworking, cybersecurity services provider CrowdStrike said this week. […]

Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., introduced legislation on May 5 to protect annual leave for Federal employees who have been working to aid the Federal response to COVID-19. […]

In 2013, the Cyber Peace Foundation was born, with Vineet Kumar as founder and president. Volunteers, called corps members, would make up the foundation’s Cyber Peace Corps. […]

In light of millions of Americans applying for unemployment benefits due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., are looking to modernize state unemployment systems. […]

The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Office of Information Management and Technology (OIMT) became the latest agency to partner with the General Services Administration (GSA) on a Centers of Excellence (CoE) initiative on May 7 to boost the agency’s technology modernization efforts. […]

Defense Department officials on May 6 pleaded their case to the Senate Armed Services Committee for a reversal of the Federal Communications Commission’s recent decision to grant a spectrum license to Virginia-based Ligado to operate in a spectrum band that military officials claim will interfere with Global Positioning System (GPS) networks vital to DoD operations. […]

As the conversation around DevOps, DevSecOps, and Agile continue to grow in government, agencies are flush with resources to aid in the development and deployment of software products that are both modern and secure. […]

Several senators from both parties are calling on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to use existing authorities to provide hazard pay to Federal government employees working on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. That proposed hazard pay would total a 25% increase in those workers’ current salaries. […]

The Senate on May 6 voted to approve the nomination of William Evanina as Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC).  The vote was 84-7. […]

Following the retirement of former CIO Renee Wynn on April 30, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) selected former deputy CIO Jeff Seaton to fill the role as acting CIO. […]

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has continued to harness innovation for diagnostics, treatment, and prevention and have launched the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) last week, as a national initiative for COVID-19 diagnostics. […]

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai called telehealth investments and advancements the “silver lining” of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic at a May 6 Brookings Institution webinar. […]

Two public health experts testified that contact tracing and other data collection are vital to the U.S. COVID-19 response during a May 6 hearing by the House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies. […]

A bipartisan group of legislators introduced the Universal Broadband Act to improve access to broadband services by requiring companies to contribute to a fund, currently used only by telephone companies. […]

Over 30 technology companies, including Amazon Web Services, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Verizon, formed a coalition to promote policies for openness and interoperability in a key part of the architecture used by mobile devices, particularly for 5G use. […]

Cloud-based platform provider Domo has deployed the considerable weight of its technology arsenal to help three state governments battle the coronavirus pandemic and pave the way toward faster recovery from the impacts of COVID-19. […]

As the meaning of the term “cyber” shifts and expands within the intelligence community to include influence operations, officials are turning to data analysis tools to address the changing threat landscape, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official said at the May 5 FedInsider webinar. […]

Big-picture technology cycles that once spanned a decade or more now evolve at ever-faster clips so that IT modernization – however an organization defines that state – has become a faster-moving and often elusive target. Traveling a parallel arc is the same requirement for better security technologies that can keep ahead of threat-actors who never rest. […]

The Defense Department’s (DoD) Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) is seeking a commercial AI solution for organizations to support personnel who “exhibit behavioral changes that may indicate increased vulnerability.” […]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) updated Special Publication (SP) 800-57 Part 1, Revision 5, for guidance and best practices managing cryptographic keying material. […]

The Trump administration’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence told the Senate Intelligence Committee today he is worried about the lack of investments the U.S. is making in quantum computing technologies relative to those being made by China. […]

The Library of Congress is looking to implement an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract offering cloud hosting, professional services, and training. […]

The Defense Department’s (DoD) Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) is looking to potentially enter into a FAR 13 Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) with no more than two companies for mission support. […]