The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported on Oct. 31 that the Energy Cybersecurity Act of 2019 would cost $832 million to implement over the next 10 years, with $355 million of that spent during the first five years. […]
Defending Digital Campaigns (DDC), a new nonprofit dedicated to providing affordable cybersecurity products, services, and information, announced its first president, CEO, and board members on Oct. 31. […]
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) released a request for information on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies that can detect and combat cyberattacks as they occur. […]
Senators and Federal government officials sparred over the country’s 5G-readiness and supply chain security at a hearing today of the Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. […]
Several senators introduced legislation on Oct. 30 that aims to “strengthen local government cybersecurity defenses by switching to the .gov domain for websites and email addresses.” […]
Federal IT decision makers feel their agencies are holding onto outdated data centers for too long. According to recent MeriTalk research, a variety of cost and mission-focused factors are to blame. […]
The Navy’s Chief Data Officer (CDO) said today that the Defense Department’s (DoD) highly anticipated joint data strategy between the Army, Navy, and Air Force will feature an emphasis on data protection and security. […]
In the last year, cybersecurity spending rose by 24 percent, but cyberattacks increased by 17 percent, according to a report from ServiceNow released Oct. 29. […]
The Pentagon’s award late last week of its ten-year Joint Enterprise Defense Initiative (JEDI) contract for general purpose cloud computing to Microsoft took center stage on Capitol Hill today at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing to consider the nomination of Dana Deasy as the Defense Department’s (DoD) CIO. […]
The Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program has an important role to play in protecting Federal systems, but the adoption process can be downright scary for some agencies. On Halloween, MeriTalk will host a webinar to dig through the skeletons and challenges in CDM’s closet, shine a flashlight on the success stories of the program, and ultimately help demystify the CDM program for vendors and agencies alike. […]
Two Federal Trade Commissioners – one a Republican and the other a Democrat – agreed on Oct. 28 that the agency has the tricky task of balancing both consumer data privacy and business interests, and must find that balance even as the fast pace of technological advancement makes the value of prescriptive regulation uncertain. […]
In a Friday letter to President Trump’s acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., demanded answers about recent departures from the administration of key Federal cybersecurity officials. […]
Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, announced updated Republican subcommittee assignments on Oct. 25. Among the changes, Rep. John Joyce, R-Pa., will join the Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Innovation Subcommittee. […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is tackling managed service provider (MSPs) cybersecurity by developing a customizable reference model that MSPs can adapt to fit their program needs. […]
The FBI released new election security resources as part of its Protected Voices initiative on Oct. 23. […]
A spotty risk management strategy, along with poor security control assessment procedures, are undermining the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)’s ability to identify and detect network security threats, according to an FDIC Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report released on Oct. 23. […]
Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., on Oct. 22 reintroduced legislation in the Senate and House aimed at creating a voluntary system to certify cybersecurity protections for internet of things (IoT) devices. […]
Reps. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., and Cathy McMorris, R-Wash., introduced the US SAFE WEB Extension Act on Oct. 22, which would enable the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to protect Americans from fraud, spam, and deception online. […]
During a House Judiciary Committee hearing on securing elections, witnesses from law enforcement agencies were asked a litany of questions related to the security of U.S. elections for 2020, including what kind of new measures were being taken during this cycle. […]
At an Oct. 16 Bipartisan Policy Center event, Federal CIO Suzette Kent and Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, discussed the impact of artificial intelligence (AI)-based automation on the national workforce. […]
Microsoft announced Oct. 18 that it launched a bug bounty program for ElectionGuard, its free open-source software development kit (SDK) which aims to make voting more secure, transparent, and accessible. […]
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said in an Oct. 11 report that H.R. 1975, the Cybersecurity Advisory Committee Authorization Act of 2019, would cost $2 million dollars over the next five years to implement. […]
The Healthcare and Public Health Sector Coordinating Council (HSCC) released on Oct. 15 a toolkit aimed at helping small to mid-sized healthcare institutions shore up the security of the products and services they procure through an enterprise supply chain cybersecurity risk management program. […]
Technology and transportation industry groups penned a letter to Congressional leadership today urging Congress to ensure innovation can flourish in the facial recognition space, while still creating needed regulation. […]
Digital transformation is happening everywhere – and with increasing urgency in the Federal government. Advances in cloud technology have allowed the acceleration of these initiatives; yet with those innovations come critical cybersecurity challenges, especially as it relates to identity management and data privacy. […]
In an Oct. 10 letter to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Mick Mulvaney, Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., called for “stronger coordination of supply chain risk management for information and communications equipment across the Federal government.” […]
The Department of Defense (DoD) is partnering with Defense Digital Service (DDS) and HackerOne to launch the second Hack the Army bug bounty challenge. The challenge, which will run from Oct. 9 to Nov. 8, encourages hackers to attack more than 60 publicly accessible web assets to improve the DoD’s cyber defenses. […]
Using cloud-based tools has helped the Small Business Administration (SBA) meet the intent of the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program as budget constraints have caused SBA to be more creative with its resources, the agency’s CIO said today. […]
Army Gen. Paul Nakasone – who heads both the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command – said today that the first focus of NSA’s recently launched Cybersecurity Directorate will be to shore up protection of companies that make up the nation’s Defense Industrial Base (DIB), and specifically to prevent the theft of intellectual property from DIB companies. […]
The Internet Society’s Online Trust Alliance (OTA) said in an Oct 8 release that 70 percent of the presidential campaign websites it reviewed did not meet the group’s standards for privacy and security standards, “potentially exposing visitors to unnecessary risks.” […]