The House of Representatives passed the Better Cybercrime Metrics Act March 29, which aims to give the Federal government increased visibility into cybercrime data, sending the bill to the President’s desk for his signature. […]
U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM) needs to develop more metrics for the organization to better assess its warfighting capabilities as cyber threats increase, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a new report. […]
The White House released President Biden’s fiscal year (FY) 2023 budget request today, with a top-line number of $5.8 trillion and featuring proposals to spend $10.9 billion for civilian cybersecurity measures – marking an 11 percent increase in civilian agency cyber spending from reported FY2022 levels. […]
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 Department of Defense (DoD) is using data to accelerate the Pentagon’s digital transformation, and DoD Chief Data Officer David Spirk said that a focus on people, technology, and culture has spurred that transformation. […]
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. […]
From pandemic relief bills to the cybersecurity executive order and the bipartisan infrastructure bill, Federal agencies have a wealth of mandates and opportunities to create new programs. While each of these executive and legislative actions feature varying priorities, funding methods, and delivery objectives, in a larger sense they are unified by requiring Federal agencies to […]
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 Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has appointed Ryan McArthur to lead its program office for the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability (JWCC), according to McArthur’s LinkedIn. […]
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. […]
Enterprise cloud adoption is proving to be an ideal fit with the rapidly changing mission rhythms of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) – the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) component agency that is tasked with coordinating the Federal government’s disaster preparation and response capabilities. […]