President Donald Trump declared October 2017 National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. The announcement follows the Equifax breach in September, which affected about 143 million U.S. consumers. Trump signed a Cybersecurity Executive Order in May in an effort to strengthen Federal cybersecurity and hold agency heads accountable for security issues. […]

The Department of Health and Human Services is distilling cyber threat intelligence for a health care audience, according to HHS CISO Chris Wlaschin, who spoke at an Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology Briefing on Sept. 26. He said the Healthcare Cybersecurity Communications and Integration Center is not meant “to replace current capabilities or functionality or services provided by” the Department of Homeland Security’s National Cybersecurity Communications and Integration Center. […]

Department of Homeland Security officials told 21 states on Sept. 22 that their election systems were breached by Russian hackers. This is the first instance that the Federal government told states whether they were targeted. […]

A report with information from all of the agencies’ risk management reports will be sent to President Donald Trump to review by Oct. 8, even though the government still lacks a Federal CIO. Barry West, senior adviser and senior accountable official for risk management at the Department of Homeland Security, said that the goals of the Cyber Executive Order in May could still be met without a Federal CIO. […]

Though officials working on the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program have been aware of the importance of cloud from the beginning, Phase 3 of the program will shift to include cloud concerns, according to Kevin Cox, CDM program manager at the Department of Homeland Security. […]

The conversations during the planning part of the acquisition process are the most important to the success of the contract vehicle, according to agency procurement officials. “What I think is most important is how we come together to meet the business solutions to enable our mission,” said Soraya Correa, chief procurement officer at the Department of Homeland Security, at AFCEA’s Homeland Security Conference on Sept. 13. […]

The problem with IT modernization is often a people problem. “There’s a cultural challenge within the IT community,” said Department of Homeland Security Acting CIO Stephen Rice, at the AFCEA Homeland Security Conference on Sept. 13. “Changes aren’t just within the technology but also within the culture of those managing the technology.” […]

Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke released a binding operational directive on Sept. 13 requiring agencies to identify and plan to remove all Kaspersky Lab products within the next 90 days. “The Department is concerned about the ties between certain Kaspersky officials and Russian intelligence and other government agencies, and requirements under Russian law that allow Russian intelligence agencies to request or compel assistance from Kaspersky and to intercept communications transiting Russian networks,” DHS noted. […]

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program is entering its fourth year and introducing a third phase. Now, the Trump administration’s increasing focus on cybersecurity adds growing pressure to the program and its scope. […]

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is evaluating the various technologies it can use to secure the southern border and vet incoming travelers. “As you may have heard, CBP is involved in building a wall on the southwest border,” said U.S. Border Control Chief Ronald Vitiello. […]

The entire Federal government is feeling the pains of cyber workforce shortages. But the Department of Homeland Security, which is tasked with protecting national security without the cool factor of the FBI and National Security Agency, hurts more than most, according to testimony at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on Sept. 7. […]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Department of Homeland Security announced the next phase of the “Smart and Secure Cities and Communities Challenge,” a partnership to bring together Smart City initiatives and DHS’s security expertise and resources, at the Global City Teams Challenge Expo. […]

A draft of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC) Cyber Working Group report on securing the nation’s critical infrastructure has found that while the U.S. has the capabilities to defend against cyber attacks, it lacks the coordination to do so effectively. […]

The United States needs to invest more resources in the security of election systems, Cook County (Ill.) Director of Elections Noah Praetz told the Election Assistance Commission. […]

DHS S&T announced Aug. 14 that it was awarding Metronome Software nearly $750,000 to strengthen the security of first responder sensor systems. Metronome Software, a software research and development company focused on working for the U.S. government, is  developing a technology to improve the security of first responders’ mobile device-based sensor systems. […]

Following the Cybersecurity Executive Order, security professionals are focusing on risk management frameworks, and some agencies are turning to the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation Program. “Security is not something that you buy, it’s something that you do,” said Matt Conner of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. […]

The designation of the nation’s election systems as critical infrastructure will not infringe upon state and local authority to run elections. In a recent memo to Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Members, Ranking Member Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., relayed communications from the Department of Homeland Security that reiterated that fact. […]

Richard Staropoli, the Department of Homeland Security’s chief information officer, resigned Aug. 3, after about three months in the role. […]

The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology First Responders Group is working with the Lower Colorado River Authority in Texas to develop Internet of Things sensors and geo-targeting alerts that will enable faster reporting of flood conditions so that first responders can better respond to problem areas. […]

The House Homeland Security Committee on July 26 unanimously passed two bills to improve the government’s cybersecurity posture: the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act of 2017 and the Cyber Vulnerability Disclosure Reporting Act. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act creates a new agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to deal with […]

Congress should focus on providing Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) with technology to patrol the border and detect illegal smuggling, rather than building a physical barrier across the whole southern U.S. border, according to Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas. […]

Federal leaders emphasized the importance of cybersecurity and partnerships with the private sector at the Aspen Security Forum on July 22. Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly said he agrees with the decision of former DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson that made election systems critical infrastructure and told the states that DHS would offer help if […]

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cyber Risks Economics (CyRiE) project on July 7 awarded $220,209 to the University of Tulsa to study how to quantify the value of data sharing and to promote increased sharing in the cybersecurity community. […]

The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate is hosting its 2017 Cyber Security Research and Development Showcase featuring more than 115 technologies. The showcase, the Federal government’s largest cybersecurity training workshop, will run July 11-13 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. […]

The Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate on June 28 unveiled its new Enhanced Dynamic Geo-Social Environment virtual training platform, which resembles an augmented reality video game. EDGE is an online, multiplayer environment that allows first responders to practice incident response scenarios. […]

The underreporting of cyber incidents is a chief issue across Federal agencies, according to Kevin Cox, Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program manager for the department of Homeland Security. However, when the CDM Federal dashboard launches in July, agencies will be able to view not only their own cybersecurity issues, but also those of their fellow agencies. […]

To protect the nation’s digital infrastructure, Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, said it’s important to empower agency leadership and expand information sharing between the Federal government and other entities. […]

Mark Schwartz is stepping down from his post as chief information officer of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. […]

The Federal Emergency Management Agency on June 30 will become the first component within the Department of Homeland Security to completely roll out Microsoft Office 365 within the agency’s systems. That move is one of several initiatives Adrian Gardner, the agency’s chief information officer, is working on. By late September, FEMA aims to deploy derived credentials, which would enable employees to access the agency system from their mobile devices. […]

Josh Ziman, technology product manager within the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer, said agencies need to evaluate their biggest constraints before big efforts. He and his team addressed the question of how much space was in their data centers by automating their records system. […]