Education Department CISO Steven Hernandez joined MeriTalk’s CDM Central: the Age of the Cyber Defenders virtual conference on May 12 to discuss how the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program and automation are impacting the agency. […]

As Federal agencies and organizations are looking to make the move to zero trust security architectures, the Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) program should help guide that transformation, Sean Connelly, TIC program manager for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said May 12 at MeriTalk’s CDM Central: the Age of the Cyber Defender virtual conference. […]

In the wake of recent high-profile cyberattacks, IT experts gathered at MeriTalk’s CDM Central: The Age of Cyber Defenders virtual event on May 12 agreed that the Federal government needs to accelerate innovation when it comes to cybersecurity, and that includes implementing the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program, along with zero trust security concepts. […]

Federal Chief Information Security Officer Chris DeRusha explained today that the foundational elements of the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program are fundamental to moving Federal government network security to zero trust concepts and that implementation of the program only becomes more important as cyber threats increase. […]

Federal agency chief information security officers (CISOs) told a Senate panel today that the security payoffs yielded by the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program are well worth the challenges that agencies have faced in implementing the program run by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). […]

Numerous Federal agencies are springing into action in response to the ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline Company, a major supplier of fuel to the northeastern U.S. that temporarily shut down pipeline operations after disclosing the attack on May 7. […]

The line between cybersecurity that keeps the Federal civilian government humming toward pandemic recovery – and the mayhem threatened by mounting waves of nation-state and criminal cyber assaults on government networks – in large measure passes through the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program run by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). […]

Although zero trust has become a bit of a buzzword in the IT world, experts agree that zero trust is “foundational” to all security approaches and that foundation needs to continue to grow in tandem with emerging tech. […]

The Department of Defense’s (DoD) Cybersecurity Maturation Model Certification (CMMC) program is in the process of being rolled out to every contract in the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) over the next five years, and the program is expected to help organizations implement Zero Trust practices, Katie Arrington, the Pentagon’s CISO for acquisition and sustainment, said May 5. […]

The Federal CDO Council is ready to release 10 data science training program use cases in a collaborative effort to educate Federal agencies on the best practices of data sharing, according to Ted Kaouk, the council chair and CDO at the Department of Agriculture. […]

Technology leaders in Congress and industry groups with a stake in Federal IT both applauded the Biden administration’s move today to relax Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) payback requirements in order to quickly put $1 billion of new funding to work to shore up agency cyber defenses and upgrade critical systems. The change in traditional TMF […]

The Biden administration has loosened repayment terms for at least a portion of the $1 billion of Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) money approved by Congress in March and is asking Federal agencies to submit proposals by June 2 as it looks to quickly parcel the funding out to projects that will improve cybersecurity and modernize high-priority systems, among other aims. […]

As Federal agencies look to modernize their cyber defenses and move to zero trust architecture, Trusted Internet Connection (TIC) 3.0 guidance will help push them along the path, with help from a zero trust use case that is in the pipeline, the TIC program manager said on April 29. […]

Federal government agencies need to implement zero trust security architecture and work with private sector partners to improve supply chain security in the wake of the SolarWinds Orion hack that penetrated nine Federal networks and dozens more in the private sector, government and industry security experts said in a MeriTV interview. The call to embrace […]

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is looking to protect critical infrastructure and seeking more information on securing and monitoring data flows in a large enterprise environment like its own, according to a request for information (RFI) posted to Beta.SAM.gov. […]

Members of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission are asking the chair and ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee to increase funding for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) by at least $400 million, with some of that funding intended to make sure that CISA’s Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program can quickly deploy security tools. […]

Senior Federal IT experts – including the current and former Federal CISO and the Pentagon’s top IT official – are expressing broad agreement that the necessary ingredients are at hand to begin implementing zero trust security concepts for government networks, and that the time to act is now. […]

While a clear majority of stakeholders in the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program believe that CDM is more important than ever in defending against cyber breaches, only a small fraction praise CDM for its ability to build civilian government network resilience following a breach. […]

Three Democratic senators today asked the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the General Services Administration (GSA) to take a “flexible” approach in deploying $1 billion of new Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) money for Federal agencies to use to improve their IT systems, including adjusting or removing requirements for agencies to reimburse the TMF with savings generated from projects that get money from the fund. […]

Kevin Cox, who has led by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program for the past five-plus years, will be leaving the agency later this year to take on deputy CIO duties at the Department of Justice (DoJ). […]

While House Government Operations Subcommittee members offered no firm direction on how they may try to further evolve the FITARA Scorecard, their discussions with witnesses at the April 16 hearing on version 11.0 of the scorecard issued last December brought to light a variety of Federal agency IT concerns that might come into play. […]

Federal agency leaders agree that zero trust is a journey that will take time to implement but, with modern-day cyber threats, the sooner agencies implement zero trust the better. […]

The Federal government is curtailing its “surge” response to the SolarWinds Orion and Microsoft Exchange hacks after seeing improvements in patching that have helped to remediate the impacts of the cyber attacks, the Biden administration said today. […]

The FITARA 11.0 scorecard released in December 2020 turned out to be a pretty good report card for Federal agency IT operations. The latest set of grades marked just the second time since the House Oversight and Reform Committee started measuring agency progress against Federal Information Technology Reform Act (FITARA) and other key metrics that every agency received a passing score. […]

The top members of the House Government Operations Subcommittee indicated today that Federal IT modernization – and the role that the newly expanded Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) can play in furthering that goal – loom large in their thinking as they consider the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s ongoing tracking of Federal agency IT improvements via the FITARA Scorecard. […]

On April 15, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., released a discussion draft of legislation that would regulate the exportation of American citizen’s sensitive, personal information to adversarial nations. […]

Bipartisan leadership of the House Government Operations Subcommittee introduced a bill today that would make sure Federal agency CIOs – along with chief data, financial, and human capital officers – are wrapped into the process of how agency leaders craft performance plans for their organizations. […]

At the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), cybersecurity is at the forefront of mission goals that include transitioning to cloud systems, a new cyber training regimen for USPTO remote examiners, and a new insider threat program, and agency official said April 14. […]

Ann Dunkin, who served as CIO at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during the second Obama administration, is in line to become CIO at the Department of Energy (DoE), knowledgeable sources tell MeriTalk.  […]

A group of communications technology trade groups urged Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in an April 12 letter to stick by what they called the Federal government’s “longstanding commitment” to use industry-led standards and best practices to deal with cybersecurity and supply chain security issues facing the information communications technology (ICT) sector. […]