Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy

The latest draft of President Donald Trump’s long-awaited executive order on cybersecurity requires a plan for transitioning all Federal agencies to shared services for email, cloud computing, and cybersecurity, and directs senior officials to study the feasibility of transitioning agencies to one or more consolidated network architectures. […]

Collaboration and a willingness to learn new practices are the best ways to address cybersecurity concerns surrounding cloud computing, according to IT leaders from across the country. Greg Urban, chief operations officer of Maryland, said that a strong core of talent makes a big difference when exploring cloud capabilities. […]

Though lessons learned from the Office of Personnel Management data breach have resulted in many improvements in cybersecurity practices, the 2015 breach and subsequent cyber incidents led members at a House Oversight Committee hearing to question the pace of Federal data protection efforts. “Right now it is an uphill fight,” said Department of Defense CIO Terry Halvorsen. […]

Less than six months into her tenure as the Department of Veterans Affairs’ chief information security officer, Roopangi Kadakia has been tasked to lead the agency’s cloud efforts. Dominic Cussatt will take over as acting CISO, according to an internal agency memo obtained by MeriTalk. […]

President Donald Trump was expected to issue an executive order on cybersecurity Jan. 31, but its release has been delayed. Although the details of the final executive order remain uncertain, Faisal Iqbal, chief technology officer of Citrix’s Public Sector, said this order may serve as the catalyst for a much-needed conversation on cybersecurity. […]

President Donald Trump and members of his national security team met with industry cybersecurity leaders today in what was billed as a “listening session” prior to the signing of an executive order that will introduce some fundamental changes to the government’s approach to national cybersecurity. […]

A draft cybersecurity executive order would mandate a review of the most critical U.S. cyber vulnerabilities, the principal cyber adversaries of the U.S., ways to incentivize cybersecurity measures in the private sector, and the capabilities of the DoD, DHS, and the NSA. […]

President Donald Trump released his Making Our Military Strong Again and America First Foreign Policy last week, which hint at potential changes to the Federal cybersecurity community. Trump’s administration has yet to include any more specific details about how the United States’ cyber capabilities will be used. […]

Leo F. Scanlon, deputy chief information security officer for Health and Human Services and the agency’s senior cybersecurity adviser for the health care sector, was named the co-chair of the (ISC)2 U.S. Government Advisory Council. […]

Centrify and SailPoint Technologies have tools to address the tasks outlined in Phase 2 of the Department of Homeland Security’s Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program, according to representatives from the companies and DHS itself. […]

President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday said that in order to crack down on cybersecurity attacks on the United States, he has compiled a team of “computer people” to discuss security procedures. Trump didn’t explain any specific policies that he or the team were working on. […]

Retired Marine Gen. John Kelly stressed the importance of working together to combat cyber warriors at his confirmation hearing for Secretary of Homeland Security. Kelly said that incumbent Secretary of Defense Ash Carter was “on to something” when he reached out to Silicon Valley companies for best cybersecurity practices. […]

The Office of Personnel Management launched CyberCareers.gov. The website, which was created as part of the Federal Cybersecurity Workforce Strategy, focuses on learning policies that will assist Federal agencies in building the cybersecurity workforce. […]

The Shadow Brokers, the hacker group that stole National Security Agency applications, are selling a package of Windows hacking tools. The group first began selling NSA tools, which looked to be about three years old, in August. The current software also dates back to three years ago. […]

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. (Photo: INSA)

In a hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Director Of National Intelligence James Clapper testified that the unclassified version of the executive-mandated report on Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election is scheduled to be released early next week and will “push the envelope” to provide the public with as much information as possible. […]

When dealing with cybersecurity policy, President-elect Donald Trump should realize that the Federal government is not a business, according to a report this month from the Center for Strategic and International Studies Cyber Policy Task Force. […]

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