On Sept. 23, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released a “historic” update to its flagship security and privacy guidance, Special Publication (SP) 800-53, Security and Privacy Controls for Information Systems and Organizations. […]
General Services Administration (GSA) CIO David Shive and Government Accountability Office Director of IT and Cybersecurity Kevin Walsh agreed that the FITARA scorecard is meeting its intended goals, but detailed specific improvements like the addition of a Technology Business Management (TBM) score to boost its effectiveness. […]
As the U.S. faces increased foreign cyber threats, the Department of State said in 2019 that it would stand up a Bureau of Cyberspace Security and Emerging Technologies (CSET) to address these threats, but according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), State hasn’t informed or involved other partners in the bureau planning, which could increase risks of duplicating efforts. […]
Six months into a highly successful make-or-break campaign to put the Federal government workforce on a remote-work footing to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, the hard-won experience of that battle has paved the way for renewed action on broader IT modernization, government and private sector officials said on a recent MeriTalk webinar. […]
In a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was found to not be taking enough action to protect information exchanged with affiliated agencies, contractors, and state, local, and tribal groups. […]
On Sept. 16, Reps. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., and Bill Foster, D-Ill., introduced bipartisan legislation to advance quantum technology through the Quantum Network Infrastructure Act of 2020. […]
In its September 2020 President’s Management Agenda (PMA) update, the Department of Labor (DOL) described several key leadership changes on its enterprise-wide shared services initiative […]
Former Virginia-based Federal contracting executive Brodie S. Thomson was sentenced to 42 months in prison following his guilty plea in June in a $4.1 million fraud scheme that involved soliciting bribes and receiving financial kickbacks in connection with prime government contracts and subcontracts awarded to a firm where he was a senior executive. […]
Weeks after the Department of Defense announced additional mid-band spectrum would be available for industry use, the department is circling back to industry requesting more information on spectrum sharing. […]
On Friday, Assistant Director for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Bryan Ware announced that the agency was issuing Emergency Directive 20-04, which instructs Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies to apply a security update for Microsoft’s Windows Servers to all domain controllers. […]
In the September 2020 President’s Management Agenda (PMA) updates, two Federal agencies focused on rural broadband expansion reported they are meeting key milestones. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is launching several real-time customer experience surveys on its websites to monitor feedback from veterans on their use of VA.gov, according to the agency’s September 2020 President’s Management Agenda (PMA) update. […]
Worldwide traveling restrictions have limited the Department of State’s progress for its Agency Priority Goal Action Plan of enhancing security monitoring solutions, the agency reported in a September update to its PMA goals. […]
The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency set out to have reliable cyber data for 24 CFO Act Federal agencies by the end of the September, but a new update from the agency says only a “handful of agencies” are on track for that, and the goal is not likely to be accomplished until next fiscal year. […]
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is recommending that the Treasury Department take steps – in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security and others – to better track and prioritize cyber risk mitigation efforts across the financial services sector. […]
In a coordinated effort across three district courts, the Department of Justice unsealed indictments this week in three separate cases against Iran-based individuals all alleged to have committed cyber intrusions on U.S.-based networks. […]
The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) Office of Field Operations has launched its new biometrics entry/exit website to provide a communications channel for promoting facial recognition comparison technology and biometric information. […]
Despite the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of State has managed to meet or be on track for the majority of its Q3 FY2020 goals set in its Agency Priority Goal Action Plan for IT Modernization as part of the President’s Management Agenda (PMA). […]
The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have identified an Iran-based cyber actor that is exploiting a virtual private network and targeting several Federal agencies, according to a joint advisory released this week. […]
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) official said on Sept. 16 that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is taking action on several major IT modernization and cybersecurity issues that GAO has flagged in recent years, but that the agency still has a lot of work to do to address many of them. […]
Josh Corman, the former chief security officer at PTC who joined the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in July as a Visiting Researcher to support the agency’s COVID-19 response effort, warned on Sept. 16 that any significant delay in distributing coronavirus vaccines – by malicious hackers or otherwise – could endanger the lives of millions of people. […]
The White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Institute of Standards and Technology announced members of the steering committee for the Quantum Economic Development Consortium, a group designed to collaborate on research, standards, and workforce initiatives in quantum information science. […]
The Federal government has been designating more Quality Service Management Offices (QSMOs) across agencies to streamline its approach to shared services, and General Services Administration (GSA) Administrator Emily Murphy and Deputy Federal CIO Maria Roat are saying that both current and future QSMOs are taking a customer-centric approach to their duties. […]
In the wake of a data breach at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that exposed the personal information of 46,000 veterans, Deputy CIO and Principal Assistant Secretary Dominic Cussatt highlighted data security and privacy to serve the veteran community as a key tenet of the agency’s transformation efforts. […]
Data offers extraordinary power – and no two organizations harness this power better than the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). These two groups rallied around a shared goal – to leverage technology to improve the lives of veterans and citizens alike. […]
Reps. Bill Foster, D-Ill., John Katko, R-N.Y., Jim Langevin, D-R.I. and Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga. on Sept. 11 introduced legislation to improve the nation’s digital identity infrastructure. […]
MeriTalk, ACT-IAC, and the Partnership for Public Service are issuing a call to the Federal IT community for participants in several virtual roundtable groups that will formulate operating and policy recommendations to promote stronger and more resilient government operations to advance the nation’s post-pandemic recovery. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced today that an unauthorized actor entered its Financial Services Center database and accessed the personal information of 46,000 veterans. […]
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) revealed today that malicious actors affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) are using open-source information plans and readily available exploits to attack networks. […]
In a proposed rule change, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is seeking to allow agencies to create term appointments in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations to allow for greater flexibility to staff long-term, non-permanent STEM projects. […]