Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy

In a letter dated Feb. 27, Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., requested Dan Coats, director of National Intelligence, produce “an unclassified report on the participation of China and other adversarial nations in the international standard setting bodies (ISSBs) for fifth-generation wireless telecommunications technologies (5G).” […]

elections, voting, election security, midterms

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), in a report released Friday, pegged the cost of H.R. 1–the For the People Act of 2019–at $2.6 billion over the next five years, with $1.5 billion of that going for states and counties to purchase new voting technology. […]

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IT security technology provider Webroot said in a recently issued threat report document that the United States in 2018 led the rest of the world by a wide margin in hosting what the firm classifies as “high-risk URLs.” […]

Credit rating agency Moody’s said in a report issued today that it considers banks, securities firms, financial market infrastructure, and hospitals at “high risk,” from a ratings perspective, due to their exposure to the impacts of cyberattacks. […]

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Pentagon Military Defense DoD

Senior Defense Department officials told House members on Tuesday they are taking additional steps to boost cybersecurity workforce ranks at the Pentagon through means including the Cyber Excepted Service (CES) personnel system authorized in 2016 that allows DoD to expedite and simplify recruiting and hiring for civilian cyber professionals. […]

DoD Pentagon Military

As the first chief data officer of the Department of Defense (DoD), Michael Conlin described the challenges of approaching a vast mountain of data from numerous systems at the Pentagon, and making it actionable information for the department. […]

elections, voting, election security, midterms

While much of the country was focused today on the testimony of Michael Cohen–President Trump’s former lawyer–before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, elsewhere on the Hill the House Committee on Appropriations Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee was hearing testimony on election security. […]

Most private and public sector CIOs have, are, or will be increasing their spending on cybersecurity and automation software deployments, according to a survey released today by Grant Thornton and the TBM Council. […]

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CDM & Eggs

While the CDM program has made tremendous strides in providing access to cyber hygiene data in near-real time, there is still progress to be made. With DHS leading the pack to help agencies become more AWARE and DEFEND against attackers, all Federal agencies must band together to outsmart advancing adversaries. […]

Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 researchers announced on Friday that they have identified a spear phishing campaign from November 2018 that is targeting U.S. national security think tanks and academic institutions. Research indicates that the “threat actor might have interests in gathering intelligence related to not only North Korea, but possibly wider in the Northeast Asia region.” […]

hybrid cloud multi cloud computing in the cloud

As Federal technology managers increasingly operate in a hybrid, multi-cloud world, having a holistic view of their agency’s application landscape and architecture will help in mapping the right workload to the right type of cloud deployment. […]

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Pentagon Military Defense DoD

The Department of Defense’s Artificial Intelligence Strategy puts the DoD on more of a fast track toward developing and employing AI and machine learning to support, as the strategy’s preface states, “a force fit for our time.” The strategy outlines an accelerated, collaborative approach with industry, academia, and allies toward new technologies that will “transform […]

Cybersecurity cyber

Cybersecurity technologies provider Symantec reported that ransomware activity fell by 20 percent in 2018 on a year-over-year basis, but that the focus of attacks shifted sharply toward enterprises and away from consumers last year. […]

Cloud computing

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a request for information (RFI) on Tuesday asking for support in moving systems to the cloud, optimizing its remaining enterprise data center, and gathering comment on the department’s plan. The deadline to respond is March 20. […]

The Department of Defense’s recently released Cloud Strategy covers a lot of territory, from an emphasis on the multibillion dollar Joint Enterprise Defense Initiative as a foundation of its plans, to its description of seven strategic objectives it wants to achieve in the cloud. One of those objectives is to extend tactical support to warfighters at the network edge to give units in the field the technology and tactical information they need to operate in a battlefield where seamless communications are essential and where cyber operations and electronic warfare are an increasingly important factor. […]

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FDIC

The inspector general for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) last week released a report on top challenges for the agency, which includes both ensuring effective cybersecurity oversight of banks and implementing strong information security policies within the agency. […]

Cyber Security Brainstorm

The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) announced it will host a Proposers’ Day on Feb. 26 for its Secure, Assured, Intelligent Learning Systems (SAILS) program, and its Trojans in Artificial Intelligence (TrojAI) program. […]

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Cybersecurity cyber

Discussions this morning with a Federal agency IT professional and an IT acquisition professional revealed very different views of the Federal government’s security posture.

Shared on the condition of no attribution during an AFCEA (Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association) Bethesda event Tuesday morning, the speakers’ varying opinions showed how the balance between security and effectiveness is an issue still up for debate. […]

GSA General Services Administration

The General Services Administration (GSA) announced a revamp of how agencies can acquire mobility solutions through IT Schedule 70 with a single Special Item Number (SIN) replacing expiring blanket purchase agreements (BPAs) under the Federal Strategic Sourcing Initiative. […]

With the 2020 national election cycle on the horizon, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., convened a hearing Wednesday to examine the how the United States was working to secure its elections. The hearing, broken into two panels, heard from senior Federal election officials, as well as state and local election officials. […]

voting, election, election security

With the 2020 national election cycle on the horizon, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., convened a hearing Wednesday to examine the how the United States was working to secure its elections, and despite some partisan squabbling from members over the issue, a senior Homeland Security Department (DHS) official testified that election security is on the upswing. […]

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Capitol Washington DC Federal

Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and John Thune, R-S.D., introduced new legislation Monday to address the cybersecurity workforce shortage plaguing the Federal government. The legislation, called the Cyber Security Exchange Act, would establish a public-private cybersecurity worker exchange program. […]

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