Both the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and the Department of Health and Human Services have spent time and dollars this July on the future of electronic health information.
The Presidential Directive that defined roles and responsibilities of Federal agencies in the event of a cyber incident is being applauded as a step in the right direction by private sector cybersecurity companies. […]
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released its National Strategic Computing Initiative Strategic Plan, which outlines its effort to improve high-performance computing.
The FBI is seeking to improve its cyber stance with the creation of a new Senior Level Data Scientist position.
The National Science and Technology Council recommends that agencies recruit a strong science and technology workforce by creating a culture of inclusion and innovation, connecting the workforce to the agencies’ missions, offering competitive pay, and strengthening relationships between the workforce and other employees within the agencies.
Despite current consumer protection efforts such as required prior consent and the Do Not Call registry, thousands of people are inundated with unwanted calls every day. Now, the Federal Communications Commission is fighting back to stop these robocalls and telemarketing calls. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler wrote a blog post urging wireless and wireline phone companies to offer call-blocking services to their customers at no cost.
The White House announced that it’s collaborating with Federal agencies and private companies to increase the use of electric cars in the United States to combat climate change.
The White House on Tuesday took a step forward in coordinating Federal response to cyber incidents in the U.S. with the announcement of a Presidential Policy Directive on United States Cyber Incident Coordination.
Members of the public can now use Department of Homeland Security data in order to develop solutions to cyber threats. The Information Marketplace for Policy and Analysis of Cyber-risk & Trust (IMPACT) is an online library offering infrastructure and event data.
The Department of Health and Human Services announced two cooperative agreement funding opportunities for an Information Sharing and Analysis Organization for the health care and public health sector. The goal of the ISAO is to use information sharing as a means to strengthen response to health-related cyber threats.
The Superpublic Innovation Lab – announced earlier this year – is now open in San Francisco. The lab seeks to foster innovation and progress for the city through cross-sector collaboration, bringing down the walls among academia, state, and Federal government leaders.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the General Services Administration hosted an industry day to address companies’ questions regarding DHS’s Request for Information regarding mobile threats and defenses.
Federal agencies need to adopt a standardized taxonomy for their data, according to authors of the report “Accelerating the Mission: Recommendations for Optimizing Federal Technology Cost and Value in the Age of FITARA.” The report proposes a set of Technology Business Management guidelines that would help agencies communicate with each other, Congress, and the private sector more effectively.
The Obama administration this month announced a series of new investments, partnerships, and policies to further the Precision Medicine Initiative, including $55 million in awards from the National Institutes of Health.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights recently released new Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act guidance on ransomware.
The Department of Energy is investing $19 million to improve the efficiency of the nation’s buildings. This investment will aim to develop advanced building technologies that will help Americans save money on utility bills, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and create jobs.
The Department of Veterans Affairs this week appointed two veteran government IT leaders to key agency posts responsible for data sharing with the Defense Department and cybersecurity.
The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act) has far-reaching government benefits as well as hurdles that must be addressed to ensure its success, according to authors of the research paper “The Data Act: Vision and Value.”
The White House released its $400 million Advanced Wireless Research Initiative, led by the National Science Foundation, to enable the use of four city-scale testing platforms for advanced wireless research.
The active critical vulnerabilities at the Department of Homeland Security have decreased by 99 percent and the time that it takes to detect problems has been cut in half in government agencies since October. The Cybersecurity Strategy and Implementation Plan and Cybersecurity National Action Plan focused on bringing the whole government up to speed on cybersecurity initiatives; however, some individual agencies developed their own way of protecting their digital information.
In 2008, the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center invited 16 companies to discuss information sharing and collaboration. Today, the DC3 partners with 400 companies to share information. Maintaining relationships with partner companies was an important subject at the Federal Forum 2016’s panel on Information Sharing and Next-Gen Defense.
Due to its relatively new and complex nature, there is no straightforward method for categorizing a cyberattack as a digital act of war, according to witnesses at a House Oversight Committee hearing.
The Federal Communications Commission’s new consumer privacy rules cause disagreements among experts about whether the rules are overbearing or progressive.
One of the major problems facing the cybersecurity of the nation’s critical infrastructure is a lack of personnel, according to witnesses at both the House Homeland Security Committee and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Both committees held hearings on the security of critical infrastructure in the U.S.
European companies wishing to transfer sensitive data, such as payroll information, to American companies will now be able to do so securely, should they register for the Privacy Shield Framework.
Office of Personnel Management Director Beth Cobert announced the first Federal Cybersecurity Workforce Strategy to address the pervasive problem that government agencies face in recruiting and retaining a sufficient cybersecurity workforce.
The Department of Health and Human Services welcomed Beth Anne Killoran as its new chief information officer.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture received a C grade on its Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act scorecard, which was released in May. Flip Anderson, acting executive director of FITARA for USDA, was so frustrated with the FITARA grading system that he created his own scorecard to gauge how closely the USDA complies with the act’s mandates.
It’s one of the centerpieces of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ transformation effort. But the so-called strategic sourcing initiative has some front-line IT employees worried that it’s really just a code word for outsourcing their jobs to the private sector. Strategic sourcing is at the heart of VA’s new IT enterprise strategy, and leverages the […]
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will launch two satellites to monitor weather and temperature patterns around the globe, but the agency is concerned about potential issues including data gaps following the expiration of previous satellites.