The complex legislative process needed to bring congressional leaders together to reconcile differences between Senate-passed and House-passed semiconductor and innovation legislation advanced in the Senate this week, and now stands just a few steps from completion, as lawmakers call for cybersecurity-related components of the bills to make the final cut. […]

Organizations of all sizes are susceptible to ransomware attacks, and the best set of defenses against those kinds of destructive cyberattacks rely on implementing multifactor authentication, network segmentation, and other zero trust security principles, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said in a new report released today. […]

Federal agencies are showing urgency and pushing hard to meet challenging zero trust security implementation deadlines following rollout of the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) zero trust strategy in January, government and industry experts agreed during a March 15 webinar hosted by MeriTalk and Merlin Cyber. […]

The late-day warning on Monday from President Biden and White House national security officials that the Russian government is exploring options for potential cyberattacks against U.S. critical infrastructure targets appeared to turn many heads in the Federal cybersecurity community that is by now long-used to receiving and generating cybersecurity advisories. […]

The FBI announced the launch of its Virtual Assets Unit (VAU), a new unit designed to be able to go after criminals looking to use cryptocurrency to aid in their crimes, the FBI announced March 15. […]

While Russia’s war in Ukraine continues, the cyberattacks coming from the invading country have, surprisingly, been rather mild and contained, Senator Mark Warner, D-Va., said today. […]

President Biden was poised late Friday to sign a full-year appropriations bill for fiscal year (FY) 2022 ending Sept. 30, after the Senate passed the spending bill late March 10. […]

After a few failed attempts, cyber incident reporting legislation made it over the finish line as part of the fiscal year (FY) 2022 appropriations bill – a victory hailed by Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Jen Easterly and lawmakers as a necessary step for more visibility to protect critical infrastructure. […]

The House of Representatives late on March 9 passed the long-awaited full-year appropriations bill for fiscal year (FY) 2022 ending Sept. 30, along with a four-day continuing resolution (CR) to give the Senate a few more days to shepherd the full-year omnibus spending bill to passage. […]

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) National Risk Management Center (NRMC) is preparing for a change in leadership, as founding member Bob Kolasky prepares to leave CISA for the private sector. […]

House and Senate Appropriations Committees today unveiled a full-year omnibus spending bill covering Federal government operations for the rest of fiscal year (FY) 2022 that ends on Sept. 30. […]

The National Security Agency (NSA) has released a cybersecurity technical report for its Network Infrastructure Security Guidance that features network infrastructure best practices, according to a March 1 release from the agency. […]

The Senate on March 1 approved by unanimous consent the Strengthening American Cybersecurity Act of 2022. The bill is a sweeping legislative package introduced last month that aims to update the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), codify the General Services Administration’s Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), and require timely cyber incident reporting by critical infrastructure providers. […]

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and FBI are warning United States-based organizations of two destructive malware programs used by Russia against Ukrainian organizations in the leadup to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the threat vectors seen in those attacks. […]

Former White House Director for Cybersecurity Robert Knake is joining the Office of National Cyber Director (ONCD) as deputy national cyber director for strategy and budget, an ONCD spokesperson confirmed to MeriTalk today. […]

With tensions mounting between Russia and Ukraine, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is warning critical infrastructure (CI) owners and operators – as well as any other United States-based organizations – to keep their guard up. To help organizations do that, the cybersecurity agency released insights for the CI sector, as well as a new webpage Feb. 18 to help organizations better steel themselves against a potential Russian cyber threat. […]

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has launched a new webpage featuring a catalog of free cybersecurity tools and resources that the agency hopes will serve as a “one-stop resource where organizations of all sizes can find free public and private sector resources to reduce their cybersecurity risk.” […]

The White House’s top cybersecurity advisor today blamed Russia for cyberattacks earlier this week against the Ukrainian government and banking sectors and said that the U.S. is actively helping Ukraine to fend off cyber assaults in the run-up to a possible Russian military invasion of that country. […]

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Jen Easterly made a strong pitch on Feb. 17 for the agency’s push to create an underlying culture of organizational success that she said is critical to creating optimal performance at the nation’s cyber defense agency. […]

Just over a week after announcing the agency’s largest-ever financial seizure – $3.6 billion in Bitcoin – Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said today that Eun Young Choi will serve as the first director of the Department of Justice’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET). […]

A new cybersecurity advisory from the Federal government’s top cybersecurity watchdogs says that Russian state-sponsored hackers have compromised numerous defense industrial base (DIB) contractors both large and small over the past two years, and warns about the extensive bag of tricks that those hackers use when they target defense contractors. […]

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., filed cloture on the latest House-passed continuing resolution (CR) – which would extend Federal government funding through March 11 – setting up a timeline for a Senate vote on the funding bill by Friday. […]

The Department of Defense (DoD) expects around 80,000 Defense Industrial Base (DIB) contractors will need a third-party assessment to reach Level 2 compliance for the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certificate (CMMC) 2.0 program – double the previously estimated number of companies. […]

The General Services Administration is going on the hunt for a permanent director to lead its Login.gov effort and oversee deployment of the $187 million Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) award GSA got for the project last year. […]

While the Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) is still the new kid on the block in Federal cybersecurity policy circles, National Cyber Director Chris Inglis said this week that his office’s success ultimately will hinge on whether it can unite policy, people, and doctrine to act as a viable collaborator with the Federal government and private industry. […]

After reviewing the cyberattack trends from 2021, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a joint advisory with the FBI and other international security partners warning of the rising global threat of ransomware and gave mitigation and remediation advice. […]

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Charles Rettig told Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., in late December that the IRS needs more money and changes to the tax code to better prevent and prosecute criminal uses of cryptocurrency, which has emerged in recent years as a favored medium of exchange involving ransomware and other cyber attacks. […]

In the wake of the discovery and remediation efforts surrounding the Log4shell vulnerability in the Apache library that contains Log4j, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) called for efforts to push forward a software bill of materials (SBOM). Those calls were reiterated today at a Senate hearing on the vulnerability by industry witnesses involved in remediation efforts. […]

Leadership of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has introduced a package bill in the Senate that would update both the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), which sets cybersecurity requirements for Federal agencies, and codify the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) that certifies cloud services as secure to use for Federal government agencies. […]

In their efforts to help shrink the cyber workforce shortage, officials from the Office of the National Cyber Director (OCND) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are emphasizing the need for collaboration and creation of a more robust culture of cybersecurity – starting with K-12 education on up. […]