Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser wrote a joint letter to the Trump administration urging them to not prematurely reopen Federal offices. Each of us have made tough decisions about which employees in our governments are performing essential roles and must still report to work locations, and which […]

Resiliency has taken on new meaning for government agencies as they accommodate new ways of working due to COVID-19 and as a result, grapple with an exponentially larger attack surface. MeriTalk sat down with former Navy CIO and DoD Deputy CIO, Robert Carey, now VP/GM of Global Public Sector Solutions at RSA Security, to talk about steps agencies can take to ensure they meet their missions in the short term, as well as in the longer term as we navigate toward the “new normal.” […]

Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., introduced legislation today that would warn consumers before they download an app from countries that “pose a national security risk.” […]

Amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, more patients and healthcare providers are switching to telehealth to reduce the spread of the virus. […]

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) hasn’t implemented any priority recommendations made by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in 2019 and now GAO has identified three additional recommendations, including one involving cybersecurity. […]

While the concept of artificial intelligence (AI) has been around for decades, research shows only 12 percent of Federal agencies use highly sophisticated AI today. […]

As the government begins to issue COVID-19 stimulus payments, cyberattackers are looking to scam individuals out of their money, a Check Point report released today found. […]

While the sudden transition to mass telework may have created some initial hurdles for Federal agencies, Federal CIO Suzette Kent said that the President’s Management Agenda (PMA) IT modernization initiatives remain in full swing. […]

MeriTalk recently connected with Infoblox’s Ralph Havens, President, Federal, and Chris Usserman, Principal Security Architect, on the current government-wide shift to telework during the COVID-19 pandemic. Havens’ expertise lies in DDI, DNS security, and network automation solutions, while Usserman is proficient in cyber and intelligence operations, offering a vast background to discuss the common cybersecurity challenges and solutions happening daily during this time. […]

In a letter to House leadership, Reps. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., Cedric Richmond, D-La., Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., and Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., wrote to request funding for state and local governments to support cybersecurity efforts in the next COVID-19 relief package. […]

The Defense Department’s (DoD) award to Microsoft of its 10-year Joint Enterprise Defense Initiative (JEDI) contract for general purpose cloud computing in October 2019 was not influenced by pressure from the White House, according to a report issued today by the DoD’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG). […]

The majority of Americans consider the spread of disease and cyberattacks to be among the top international threats facing the country, according to a Pew Research Center report released April 13. […]

In a move to further secure mobile devices, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) announced April 14 that it is developing a new Cloud-Based Root-of-Trust (CRoT) technology. […]

Reps. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., and Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y. asked House and Senate leaders to include in the next Federal coronavirus relief bill a lengthy list of protections for the Federal and government contractor workforces, including measures to further promote telework.  […]

Over 1,000 files on cyberattacks collected by security provider CrowdStrike in March mentioned the COVID-19 coronavirus, and Adam Meyers, the company’s VP of Intelligence, said the trend will only continue through April. […]

A month deep into the coronavirus pandemic, the problem isn’t finding news on the COVID-19 virus and its impacts, it’s finding too much of it – and having to sort it all out to discern the bottom-line impacts. […]

Federal Communications Commission Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has made access to broadband “no longer a luxury.” […]

Under the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has provided links to free and low-cost online cybersecurity educational content. […]

Cloud is more important now than ever to provide the necessary flexibility, security, and scalability to support the growing remote workforce. While government agencies have made significant progress in adopting cloud – through OMB’s Cloud First and Cloud Smart policies – there is still more to be done. […]

Robert Carey, VP/GM Global Public Sector Solutions at RSA Security, has rightly earned the ability to take the long view of large-scale technology deployments across both the private and public sectors. He’s six years into a second private-sector career with previous stops at GDIT and Vencore since capping off an eight-year run as CIO of the Department of the Navy, and then Principal Deputy CIO at the Department of Defense. […]

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released interim Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) 3.0 guidance today focused on the rapid transition to telework as Federal agencies adjust their operations to combat spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. […]

In a joint alert from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), the agencies warned against cyber threats from malicious online groups exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic. […]

Department of Defense (DoD) CIO Dana Deasy is leading a Telework Readiness Task Force to ease the agency’s transition to telework and improve cybersecurity, DoD spokesman Lt. Col. Robert Carver confirmed to MeriTalk. […]

The next generation of the CDM Dashboard will bring critical insights to improve Federal agencies’ cyber posture and combat security threats in near real time. Join ECS’ Joanna Dempsey, Elastic’s Matt Campbell, and MeriTalk for a complimentary webinar to discuss the current status and upcoming initiatives. […]

FBI Issues PSA on Cyber Threats due to COVID-19 According to a Public Service Announcement (PSA) by the FBI, cyber threat actors are attempting to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic by exploiting virtual environments. “As of March 30, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has received and reviewed more than 1,200 complaints related […]

In the modern era of IT security, few have seen as much – and done more to make it secure – than Bill Rucker, president of Trustwave Government Solutions. In the midst of a 20-year stretch in the public sector market that began with Intellitactics prior to its acquisition by Trustwave, Rucker leads the company’s effort to help government fight cybercrime, protect data, and reduce security risk. […]

The Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (AI)  is calling for a national research cloud led by the Federal government to fuel innovation and collaboration between academia, the public sector, and industry. […]

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) suggests that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) update its Baseline Assessment for Security Enhancement (BASE) cybersecurity template to reflect key cybersecurity practices. […]

As efforts to control the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic have increased, the Federal government has moved the majority of its workers to telework. While this is a great step to enable social distancing, it does open up serious cybersecurity concerns. […]

As the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program prepares for minimum viable product launch for agency dashboards in April 2020 and gears up to deliver the minimum viable Federal dashboard later this year, the project is undergoing major updates to improve user experience. […]