Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, plans to introduce a bill Thursday morning that offers a plan to build a “smart” wall along the southern border of the United States.
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 […]
Despite the relatively new nature of cyber insurance policies, small businesses are finding value in their offerings, according to witnesses who testified before the House Small Business Committee on July 26. “It affords me the knowledge that if we were hacked, protective steps have been taken to address any potential damages to the company and my employees,”said Robert Luft, president of SureFire Innovations.
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.
Congress will likely be putting bipartisan pressure on the White House to fill critical IT positions in Federal agencies and prioritize modernization efforts, Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., predicted at the ServiceNow Town Hall.
State and Federal representatives testified to the need for a first responder-only network and offered their support of FirstNet’s efforts during a recent Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing.
If Federal agencies invest upfront in technologies to track fraud and improper payments, the government could end up saving enough money to pay back some of the national debt or stave off sequestration, according to Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va.
Sens. John Thune, R-S.D., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., sent a letter to President Donald Trump, urging him to make digital trade a priority in renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement.
More than one-third of the Small Business Administration’s 120 circuits are overloaded. To resolve this issue, chief information officer Maria Roat plans to modernize SBA’s infrastructure by moving to a “pure Ethernet backbone.” She said Ethernet will help employees with Skype and virtual counseling, and will extend to all of the agency’s field offices.
Members of Congress urged Defense Secretary James Mattis in a letter to incorporate cybersecurity into high school Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (JROTC) programs.
Reps. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Susan Brooks, R-Ind., and Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Ed Markey, D-Mass., introduced legislation June 29 to combat cyber crime by mandating that the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Federal Trade Commission, and the department of Homeland Security (DHS) establish baseline best practices for the private sector.
The transparent reporting of spending data through Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA) requirements will go a long way to increasing public trust in the government, according to legislators and agency officials who spoke at the DATA Summit on June 29.
Representatives of the intelligence community said that they want the surveillance powers outlined in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to be renewed without amendment or sunset clause this year.
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.
Former Federal Chief Information Security Officer retired Brig. Gen. Gregory Touhill called on Congress to formally authorize the Federal CISO position, so that his successor has the full authority to address the cybersecurity needs of the nation.
The Federal government currently lacks the empowered leadership necessary to address U.S. cyber vulnerabilities, according to former Federal experts testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “For the entire apparatus, there currently isn’t an empowered, either an individual or an agency, to do what I think is necessary,” said Samantha Ravich, senior adviser for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former national security adviser for Vice President Dick Cheney.
Congress will be busy with future tech initiatives and members have high hopes for the potential of current programs, according to two congressmen who spoke June 7 at MeriTalk’s Cloud Computing Brainstorm. Congressional IT leaders Reps. Will Hurd, R-Texas, and Gerry Connolly, D-Va., talked about the future of major IT initiatives such as FedRAMP, the Modernizing Government Technology (MGT) Act, FITARA, and executive leadership, offering insight into the shape of IT developments in the coming months.
Reps. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and Scott Taylor, R-Va., introduced the Hack the Department of Homeland Security Act, a bill that would establish a bug bounty program that encourages white-hat hackers to search for and report vulnerabilities within DHS systems.
Government officials predict that though getting all Federal agencies to comply with the recent Cybersecurity Executive Order and the Modernizing Government Technology (MGT) bill will be difficult, the outcomes will be very beneficial for government.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., introduced the Balancing the Rights of Web Surfers Equally and Responsibly (BROWSER) Act of 2017, which requires Internet service providers to get permission to sell users’ data.
Only two Federal agencies, the departments of Commerce and Education, have created plans that address all four elements outlined by the Office of Management and Budget’s 10 year-old memorandum requiring agencies to reduce exposure of Social Security numbers.
President Donald Trump’s proposed 2018 budget, released on May 23, provides for $228 million of IT modernization funding through the General Services Administration, as laid out in the Modernizing Government Technology Act that passed the House last week.
Twenty-three out of the 24 agencies mandated to follow the Data Center Optimization Initiative reported $3.3 billion less in planned cost savings compared to the $4 billion reported in November 2015, according to a GAO report released May 18.
Rep. Will Hurd’s Modernizing Government Technology (MGT) Act passed the House of Representatives by voice vote on Wednesday.
A bill formally authorizing the National Computer Forensics Institute within the Department of Homeland Security to train state, local, and tribal law enforcement on how to deal with and prosecute cyber crime passed the U.S. House on May 16.
The Congressional Budget Office released its updated score for Rep. Will Hurd’s Modernizing Government Technology Act, placing the bill’s cost at $500 million over five years, down from the $9 billion estimate placed on the last version of the bill.
Missouri National Guard Capt. Kevin Keeney called for Congress to write legislation funding a new uniformed service called U.S. Cyber and to consolidate all cyber personnel, equipment, and missions under it.
The U.S. government workforce is not prepared to deal with the kind of information warfare that Russia used to influence the 2016 presidential election and has continued to use in the elections of other nations, U.S. Cyber Command and NSA Chief Admiral Michael Rogers told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
After Russia’s success hacking the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the nation is likely to continue its cyberattacks toward congressional IT systems, according to testimony by former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Monday.
Financial reporting requirements imposed by the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA) could open up better communications between agencies and Congress, according to experts.