Federal CIO Kent Announces Cyber Reskilling Academy
Federal CIO Suzette Kent this morning announced creation of the Federal Cyber Reskilling Academy–a joint effort of the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Education, and the Federal CIO Council Workforce Committee–to kickstart the Federal government’s efforts to address gaps in the Federal cybersecurity workforce and help retrain Federal employees.
Feds Reach IT Modernization Tipping Point
A new report from MeriTalk and the American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) finds that Federal finance, IT, and procurement experts believe we’ve reached an IT modernization tipping point.
DHS Launches ICT Sector Supply Chain Risk Task Force
The Department of Homeland Security on Oct. 30 announced launch of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Supply Chain Risk Management Task Force, which the agency said is charged with developing “consensus recommendations” to identify and manage risk to the global ICT supply chain.
DHS’ Manfra Discusses FISMA Update, Impact to CDM
Jeanette Manfra, assistant secretary for the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications at the Department of Homeland Security, said today that the new update to Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) guidance will place even more accountability on department leaders and reflects an evolution in discussions between agencies and DHS.
DoD Makes CHIPS Award, Warns on Shutdown Impact
The Department of Defense (DoD) on Sept. 20 announced its first set of awards under the CHIPS Act totaling $240 million to establish eight microelectronics commons innovation hubs.
DHS Sets GPS Spoof Testing Event for 2024
With the near-universal reliance on Global Positioning System (GPS) technologies for communications applications also posing a range of potential security challenges, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has announced plans for a new testing program to evaluate how well GPS systems do against spoofing and disruption exploits.
Report Pushes for More Action on Cyber Solarium Recs
A report released by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) on Sept. 19 argues that Congress should take another look at legislative recommendations published by the Cyberspace Solarium Commission to shore up U.S. cyber defenses and decide whether to enact them.
House Oversight Clears Federal Procurement Security Bill
The House Oversight and Accountability Committee passed the Safe and Smart Federal Purchasing Act of 2023 on Wednesday in a unanimous 43-0 vote.
DHS Pushes for Common Cyber Incident Reporting Definitions
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released a new report looking to wrangle the different avenues in which the Federal government and its agencies report cyber incidents in a more ‘reportable’ fashion.
Weed Bill Clears House Oversight Despite Markup Headwinds
The House Oversight and Accountability Committee today favorably reported the CURE Act to the House floor by a vote of 30-14. The bill would block prior marijuana use from becoming grounds for failing to hire someone into the Federal government.
House Oversight Approves Bill to Reauthorize TMF
A bill that would reauthorize the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) through 2030 drew wide bipartisan support today at a House Oversight and Accountability markup session, passing unanimously by a vote of 43-0.
GSA, DoL Expand Login.gov Partnership to Modernize State UI Systems
Following up on efforts that began in May of this year, the General Services Administration (GSA) and Department of Labor (DoL) have expanded their partnership to now offer all states the opportunity to use Login.gov to help improve access, decrease fraud, and increase security in the delivery of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits.
Easterly: AI Posing Risks to Election Information Environment
As AI technologies are increasingly used to create deceptive content, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Jen Easterly said on Tuesday that Americans can remain confident in U.S. election infrastructure, but also warned that the information environment is at risk.
DISA Seeking Industry Support for Hybrid Cloud Center Efforts
The Defense Information Systems Agency’s (DISA) Hosting and Compute Center (HaCC) is turning to industry partners to help support the agency’s initiative to modernize and transform its data centers into hybrid cloud centers.
With 80 percent of every Federal IT dollar spent on life support for legacy systems, the Federal IT community is exploring new options to modernize and innovate – virtualization, cloud computing, Flash technology, software-defined options, shared services, and more. MeriTalk is staying close to the leaders on the front lines, bringing you new ideas and lessons learned.
And, as Federal IT leaders work to meet demands of an “always-on” highly mobile government, we bring you the stories and breaking news on balancing productivity with security. Our government IT news includes how agencies manage advanced persistent threats, and the steps that help guard against socially engineered threats. We look at the latest trends in malware, spyware, ransomware, and spear phishing. And – how can Federal agencies protect data from tomorrow’s cyber threats?
The MeriTalk “Industry Insider” column, offers a weekly news roundup of contracts and other activity in the Federal IT industry. Check with MeriTalk daily for the government technology news you need to know, or subscribe to get the latest stories delivered directly to your inbox. You’ll stay up to date with interesting and timely Federal IT stories on cybersecurity, big data, data center modernization, cloud, mobile, and other developments in your community – from what’s next for the MGT Act to the highly anticipated Federal IT revolving capital fund, MeriTalk brings you the trends and breaking IT news to help you modernize, innovate, and transform public sector technology and the missions you support.