The Federal government and critical infrastructure owners and operators spend $500 billion annually on information and communications technology (ICT) from thousands of suppliers – small, medium, and large; national and international. Digital transformation and globalization have brought technology advancements and operational efficiencies to Federal agencies. But the increasingly labyrinthine nature of Federal supply chains impacts the security of Federal systems, data, and missions. […]
Federal agencies got better at fending off cyberattacks and improving their overall cybersecurity posture last year, according to the Fiscal Year 2019 Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) Annual Report to Congress. […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has focused a bright spotlight on Federal IT. Leaders are turning on a dime so agencies can deliver vital services, protections, and trillions of dollars in financial assistance. As operations start to normalize, MeriTalk is chronicling the efforts of Federal IT leaders who are meeting the pandemic challenge head-on. How can agencies future proof government tech for what lies ahead? This edition of CIO Crossroads turns to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). […]
A new bill introduced by Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., would task the Department of Commerce with conducting a quantum computing study to outline economic benefits of the technology, and identify and mitigate supply chain risks. […]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Federal IT operations are providing a resilient fabric that enables accelerated delivery of vital services to citizens during an unprecedented public health crisis. As government IT operations reach their new steady-state and map the path to further modernization, MeriTalk is surfacing the untold stories – and lessons – of those efforts. In the latest installment of CIO Crossroads, we examine the Labor Department’s performance eight weeks into the fray. […]
2020 marks the start of a new era in government IT. Federal, state, and local government IT leaders are quickly scaling work from home support levels, despite many organizations lacking needed infrastructure and security controls for a perimeterless work environment. […]
The final version of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 800-207 on zero trust could be released as soon as this month, with an opportunity for industry collaboration coming this fall, a NIST official confirmed today. […]
The House late Friday passed the HEROES Act, the Democrat-led $3 trillion COVID-19 coronavirus relief legislation that includes billions of Federal technology-related spending. […]
Federal CIO Suzette Kent this week applauded the capacity of commercial, cloud-based solutions in helping the government focus on mission continuity and response during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. […]
Often taken for granted in the eight weeks since the coronavirus pandemic struck is one simple but vital truth: the linchpin holding together the Federal government’s ability to provide crucial services is the technology that ties the enterprise together. Federal IT has literally brought us together – as a government, and as a nation. As government IT operations achieve steady-state and look to the next chapter of digital modernization, MeriTalk is chronicling the untold stories – and lessons – of that effort. Today we check in with the General Services Administration’s Technology Transformation Services (TTS) operation. […]
Cloud security provider Zscaler announced that its Zscaler Private Access (ZPA) service has achieved the first-ever FedRAMP (Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program) High Authority designation from the FedRAMP Joint Authorization Board (JAB) for zero trust remote access service. […]
As the Federal government has shifted to telework, the security of its cloud and mobile environments has grown even more critical. Concerningly, the majority of Federal stakeholders believe the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program isn’t able to keep pace with cyber threats, a new report from MeriTalk found. […]
Maria Roat, who currently serves as CIO of the Small Business Administration (SBA), is being promoted to deputy Federal CIO at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) by the end of the month, MeriTalk has learned. […]
The latest COVID-19 relief legislation being prepared by House Democrats – the HEROES Act – proposes $1 billion for the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) to help Federal agencies improve their information technology systems. […]
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released two supply chain risk management (SCRM) products on May 6 to help businesses and organizations boost supply chain security. […]
The Department of Homeland Security’s Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program may qualify as one of the most ambitious network security program ever conceived, with a focus on girding Federal agency networks with state-of-the-art security at both the agency and DHS levels – and not just for today’s threats, but also to meet the ever-expanding threat landscape down the road. […]
As the conversation around DevOps, DevSecOps, and Agile continue to grow in government, agencies are flush with resources to aid in the development and deployment of software products that are both modern and secure. […]
CGI won a $267 million, six-year contract with the Department of Homeland Security’s Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program to provide cybersecurity services to more than 75 Federal agencies, according to an April 29 press release from CGI. […]
ECS last week delivered the first version of the new Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) dashboard for Federal agencies to the CDM program’s systems integrators, said Joanna Dempsey, Director of Cyber Solutions at ECS. Dempsey spoke on an April 28 MeriTalk webinar, “The Next-Gen CDM Dashboard: Real-Time Cybersecurity Insights.” […]
Katie Arrington, Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) lead and CISO for acquisition at the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Undersecretary of Defense, confirmed that the CMMC and FedRAMP (Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program) offices are working on a way to grant reciprocity between the two certifications. […]
How’s this for an emergency drill within the eye of the swirling coronavirus storm? As America social distanced, Federal IT has literally brought us together – as a government, and as a nation. As government IT operations achieve steady-state amid the demands of the pandemic, let’s begin to lift the veil on that story, starting with the Small Business Administration (SBA). […]
The Defense Department (DoD) said today that coronavirus-related concerns have closed about one percent of the companies that it considers “prime” in the defense industrial base (DIB), and that DoD is working to help affected companies to reopen. […]
While the sudden transition to mass telework may have created some initial hurdles for Federal agencies, Federal CIO Suzette Kent said that the President’s Management Agenda (PMA) IT modernization initiatives remain in full swing. […]
Several IT trade groups called on House and Senate leadership to boost funding for Federal tech in the next COVID-19 coronavirus relief legislation and speed modernization of government functions “in this new era of remote collaboration.” […]
Bill Marion, deputy CIO at the U.S. Air Force, will be leaving his position at the end of April, an Air Force spokesperson confirmed to MeriTalk. […]
As the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program prepares for minimum viable product launch for agency dashboards in April 2020 and gears up to deliver the minimum viable Federal dashboard later this year, the project is undergoing major updates to improve user experience. […]
Officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) organization praised implementation of Technology Business Management (TBM) practices for enhancing agencywide communication about IT priorities. […]
A House version of COVID-19 relief legislation being prepared as an alternative to the separate relief/stimulus bill being considered by the Senate on March 24 features a stunning proposed increase in funding for the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) that serves as a repayable source of capital for Federal agency IT modernization projects. […]
MeriTalk sat down with CyberArk’s Federal Customer Success Director Kevin Jermyn to hear his thoughts and insights on privileged access management, and the impact it’s having on our Federal government. […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published a new guide, NISTIR 8170, to provide Federal agencies with different approaches to leveraging the Cybersecurity Framework to address common cyber problems. […]