Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy

In the wake of October’s Distributed Denial of Service attack that used hundreds of unsecured devices to prevent access to a number of U.S. websites, Reps. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., wrote a letter to Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Edith Ramirez asking that her agency take action to ensure greater security of Internet of Things devices. […]

If government agencies don’t cooperate with both each other and the private sector on threat intelligence, they’ll never be able to keep up with the hackers working against them, according to Cloudera’s director of cybersecurity strategy, Sam Heywood. […]

The hacker group the Shadow Brokers released files Monday alleging to show which foreign governments and organizations were under surveillance by the National Security Agency. The Shadow Brokers directly asked the U.S. government to pay for the remaining files to be returned. […]

In the wake of recent Dyn attacks that temporarily shut down major websites such as Twitter, Amazon, and PayPal, Sens. Angus King, I-Maine, and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., sent a letter to President Obama this week to request a strengthening of the U.S. ability to detect and respond to major vulnerabilities. […]

America’s Internet infrastructure could be seeing other denial-of-service attacks similar to the one targeted at Dyn last week, according to Josh Finke at Iron Bow. The large scale of the attack, the availability of the source code for the malware online, and the number of susceptible Internet of Things devices, make this type of attack attractive to hackers. […]

The Department of Homeland Security identified Mirai as one type of malware used in a recent cyberattack that brought down major websites, according to a statement from DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson. […]

Alongside hampering service to sites like Amazon, Twitter, and PayPal, the massive Distributed Denial of Service attack against the Internet domain name management company Dyn has also drastically affected cancer fundraising efforts by impeding transfers of funds. […]

Cyberattacks directed at the Internet domain name management company Dyn affected several major East Coast websites on Friday, causing slowdowns. “We still don’t know who is responsible,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. “Figuring out the why is also of vital importance.” […]

The United States has to formulate a conversation about cybersecurity breaches by foreign actors, according to Adm. Michael Rogers, director of the National Security Agency, adding that the Federal government has confirmed that Russia was behind the hacks on the Democratic National Committee. […]

In order to educate law enforcement officials on how to deal with digital evidence and cyber-based crimes, the FBI has created the Cyber Investigator Certification Program, a project that, in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University, aims to address the concerns of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) over a lack of affordable cyber training options for officers. […]

Verizon announced on Thursday the release of their Verizon Global Enterprise IT Management (GEITM) service, which is designed to provide a unified framework through which CIOs can have visibility into their entire infrastructure’s operations. […]

Though the Federal government has certainly experienced ransomware attacks, experts speaking at the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association Cybersecurity Summit on Tuesday explained that it is not the primary target for ransomware hackers. […]

Thirty-three states have sought out the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for cybersecurity services, according to Andy Ozment, Assistant Secretary for Cybersecurity and Communications at DHS. […]

Despite the short amount of time guaranteed to him as the Federal Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Brig. Gen. Gregory Touhill is optimistic about his ability to remain in his position through the presidential transition and has many plans that he hopes to carry through that transition. […]

Categories