What does it cost to open up a new top-level executive branch office to coordinate the government’s sprawling and ever-growing cybersecurity efforts? If you guessed $15 million, you’d be right in line with the thinking of the House Appropriations Committee, which released on June 23 the draft fiscal year 2022 Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) funding bill that includes $15 million to launch the new Office of the National Cyber Director. […]

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., continues to hold Jen Easterly’s nomination to lead the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) until Vice President Kamala Harris visits the southern United States border, he reiterated yesterday. […]

Theodore N. Nemeroff has been named director for International Cyber Policy on the White House’s National Security Council (NSC). He will be responsible for expanding the U.S. government’s information and communications technology policy abroad. […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found in a new report that while the Department of Defense (DoD) has taken some risk management actions to better defend its inventory management systems against cyber threats, it should take additional steps to make them more secure. […]

With the focus turning to securing critical infrastructure and a backdrop of an increased number of cyberattacks, a survey of the cybersecurity in the water and waste management sector shows a number of facilities with incomplete cybersecurity programs, the Water Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) found in an April 2021 study. […]

Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, asked Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona to ensure that schools nationwide are aware that they can use Federal funding from COVID-19 relief bills to improve cybersecurity. […]

As vaccination rates increase and the United States nears closer to a broader return to offices, Federal IT officials in the Department of Defense (DoD) are reporting that their organizations’ IT environment is more complex now than two years ago, according to a recent Axonius and MeriTalk survey. […]

Federal and private sector cybersecurity experts will be sharing their secrets to success on how Federal agencies can modernize their IT and cybersecurity posture at MeriTalk’s “Accelerating Success: How to Meet the Requirements of the Cybersecurity Executive Order” webinar on June 22 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. EDT. […]

A bipartisan group of senators reintroduced the International Cybercrime Prevention Act, which would give law enforcement tools to harden cyber defenses. […]

With numerous recent high-profile attacks, ransomware has been everpresent in the news and discourse around the nation’s cybersecurity. The threat landscape has evolved rapidly, with credit card hackers quickly turning the scheme into million-dollar ransoms in less than a decade. […]

The Senate confirmed Chris Inglis to become the nation’s first-ever National Cyber Director by voice vote June 17. The 28-year veteran of the National Security Agency (NSA) will now move to the executive branch to develop a national cyber strategy for the nation. […]

If 2020 was the year of the pandemic, then 2021 is shaping up as the year of the Big Hack. […]

The United States has some of the most significant cyber capabilities in the world, but Department of Defense (DoD) leaders today agreed that cybersecurity is an area where the United States is “vulnerable” and still has “a lot more work to do” when it comes to developing cyber capabilities. […]

President Biden said today that he spent “a great deal of time” discussing cybersecurity issues with Russian President Vladimir Putin at their three-hour summit meeting held June 16, and central to that discussion was President Biden’s assertion that critical infrastructure should be off limits to any attacks. […]

The Transportation Security Agency (TSA) is in the process of developing another cybersecurity directive for critical infrastructure pipeline owners and operators, following the initial directive it issued to them following the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack. […]

Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., chair of the House Homeland Security Committee’s Cybersecurity Subcommittee, said today she hopes Congress will provide further funding for IT modernization and cybersecurity improvements to build on the recent $1 billion infusion into the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF), and the extra $650 million provided to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in the American Rescue Plan Act. […]

Cybersecurity in general, and ransomware in specific, climbed high onto the ladder of major policy issues at both the weekend meeting of G-7 nations this weekend, and the NATO Summit that concluded on June 14. […]

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has implemented four of the seven open priority recommendations that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) identified in April 2020, including updating systems and establishing a risk management framework. […]

Carlos Del Toro, President Biden’s nominee to become Secretary of the Navy, is set to bring to the service branch an extensive technology profile from 17 years as CEO of SBG Technology Solutions, which provides IT modernization, governance, cybersecurity, and AI tech to the Federal government. […]

Cyberthreats are constantly evolving. There are new attackers, new vulnerabilities, and new security risks that are arising every day. Threat hackers have rapidly increased their sophistication and techniques that make them harder to spot and threaten even the savviest targets. Criminal groups are also targeting businesses that have moved their infrastructure to the cloud. This way, they can hide among legitimate services. Attackers have developed new ways to scour the internet for systems vulnerable to ransomware. […]

A week after seeking information on ransom pay from two other ransomware victims, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, sent a June 10 letter to JBS Foods USA asking for information about its reported decision to pay an $11 million ransom, the committee announced. […]

The 14 percent year-over-year budget increase requested by the Biden administration for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Fiscal Year 2022 would be devoted to hiring new career personnel across the agency, including increasing staffing that is critical for IT and cybersecurity oversight across the government. […]

Jen Easterly, President Biden’s nominee to become the next director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), delivered a sobering assessment of the rising threats faced by Federal and private sectors networks and pledged at her June 10 confirmation hearing to strengthen the agency’s capabilities to defend and secure networks. […]

Ransomware was a main focus of concern during a committee nomination hearing today for Chris Inglis to be the nation’s first-ever national cyber director. Amidst a rising number of recent attacks, Inglis detailed how he would deal with the threat of ransomware while also explaining how he would approach building the nation’s cyber policy and approach collaboration if confirmed. […]

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said today he expects legislation will be soon filed in Congress to mandate cyber incident reporting to Federal authorities. […]

After a Senate committee hearing yesterday, Colonial Pipeline’s president and CEO was back in front of Congress today, appearing before the House Committee on Homeland Security for a hearing about last month’s ransomware attack. There he expressed a need from private industry for the Federal government to pressure the hosts of these ransomware actors. […]

The Senate voted late on June 8 to approve the much-amended U.S. Innovation and Competition Act of 2021, by a margin of 68-32. […]

The Accreditation Board (CMMC-AB) for the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) has approved the first Certified Third-Party Assessment Organization (C3PAO) in the Defense Industrial Base (DIB), the CMMC-AB announced today. […]

The White House today released the first fruits of a February executive order that has Federal agencies looking at ways to improve supply chain security in several key critical infrastructure areas. […]

Colonial Pipeline Company’s president and CEO announced the company is in the midst of an ongoing review of last month’s ransomware attack and relayed the timeline of events that led to the company paying a ransom and its communication with law enforcement in a Congressional hearing today. […]