A bipartisan group of six House members this week introduced a bill to establish a National Cyber Director in the Executive Office of the President to coordinate cyber policy across the Federal government. […]

As public and private sector organizations face a heightened threat landscape amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Richard Driggers, deputy assistant director for cybersecurity at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), explained how agency efforts have scaled to meet governmentwide cyber needs. […]

As the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect organizations across the United States, officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice (DoJ) warned of common trends and attack vectors that are being used by malicious actors for financial or informational gain. […]

While the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has left a flurry of cybersecurity risks in its wake targeting healthcare and other sectors, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has scarcely missed a beat in carrying out its mission to protect the U.S. from cyber threats. […]

The group charged with overseeing implementation of new cybersecurity standards for Department of Defense supply chain companies has released its requirements for third-party assessors – the next step in a multi-year process designed to better secure the defense industrial base. […]

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Christopher Krebs called the COVID-19 pandemic – and the quick switch to telework stemming from efforts to curtail the spread of the virus – one of the “biggest drivers” of IT and cyber modernization in recent times. […]

In a move to shore up the United States’ technology superiority on the international stage, Congress has introduced two new pieces of legislation. […]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has updated its Insider Threat Program (ITP) to expand the program’s scope to include those with past or current access to DHS facilities, information, equipment, networks, or systems. […]

At the Department of Education, workforce training and collaboration with other Federal agencies and academic stakeholders are helping the agency stay cybersecure, according to CIO Jason Gray. […]

The Department of Defense official charged with integrating cyber activities across the department is no stranger to the international laws which govern the domain – he helped write them more than a decade ago. […]

Across the Federal government, said Peter Ranks, deputy CIO for the information enterprise at the Department of Defense (DoD), and Jeanette Manfra, former assistant director for cybersecurity at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, more holistic IT modernization is necessary both during and following government’s reliance on widespread telework. […]

In a letter to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., raised questions on cybersecurity issues across the intelligence community (IC), and suggested that the IC may need to fall under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) authority of requiring all Federal agencies to adopt specific cybersecurity technologies and policies. […]

The National Security Agency (NSA) is conducting a pilot program through a commercial managed service provider that provides secure domain-name system (DNS) services to a group of defense industrial base (DIB) companies. […]

While former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Sue Gordon commended how cloud adoption enabled Federal telework, she cautioned that more work needs to be done to stay secure when working remotely. […]

The National Institutes of Health announced June 15 that it has launched a new data analytics platform to track COVID-19 patient data. […]

While the Census Bureau was already adjusting to embracing new tech for the 2020 Census, the COVID-19 pandemic has raised new concerns and pushed the agency to increase its focus on IT, data, and cybersecurity matters to properly manage risks.
Per a June 9 report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Census Bureau must closely manage its tech to ensure that the pandemic and other delays don’t impact the quality of its 2020 Census results. […]

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., introduced two bills – the Continuity of Economy Act of 2020  and the National Guard Cyber Interoperability Act of 2020 – with the goal of bolstering the United States’ cyber defenses. […]

The critical importance of Federal IT operations in sustaining vital government operations during the COVID-19 pandemic is nearing the status of universal truth. What’s much less obvious to the naked eye – and meant to be that way – are the security operations underpinning and defending the vast Federal technology enterprise. As the nation takes its first steps on the road to recovery, MeriTalk is bringing to light the untold stories of those efforts. In the latest chapter of CIO Crossroads, we examine the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program. […]

As agencies have gone remote, they have had to evolve their cyber security strategies to adjust to their new telework reality. What challenges are they encountering as they make this shift? How can they adopt or adapt “bring your own device” (BYOD) plans to ensure the security of agency applications and data? […]

Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) Program Manager Kevin Cox said today that the program’s mission has mostly continued without a hitch through the COVID-19 pandemic, while also serving to better inform the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and Federal agencies about the security implications of maximum telework. […]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) announced June 8 that it has invited 10 technology providers and industry experts to collaborate on the Protecting Information and System Integrity in Industrial Control System Environments Project. […]

Sean Connelly, Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) Program Manager at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), detailed at MeriTalk’s CDM Central: Tales from the Frontlines virtual event today how TIC and the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program work together to bolster Federal cybersecurity. […]

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program has been a key tool for managing cybersecurity risks since Federal employees began maximum telework in March by helping to maintain situational awareness on networks, said Federal CISO Grant Schneider at MeriTalk’s CDM Central: Tales from the Frontlines digital event today. […]

Unified Platform, a software platform designed to consolidate cyber capabilities and data processing led by the U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM), is set to cost five times its initial program estimate and the program has skipped over key assessments, according to a June 3 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. […]

Assessors for the new cybersecurity standard for contractors of the Department of Defense have not yet been selected, but a Department of Homeland Security official praised DoD’s efforts and said his department is looking toward their example. […]

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said that H.R. 5428, the Grid Modernization Research and Development Act of 2019, would cost the United States $1.2 billion over the next five years if enacted. […]

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a new cyber essentials toolkit to help small businesses and Federal agencies understand and address cybersecurity risks. […]

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is leading the call for a governmentwide vulnerability disclosure platform, with a request for proposals from agencies coming as soon as summer 2020. […]

The National Security Agency has identified Russian military cyber actors – part of the General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate’s (GRU) Main Center for Special Technologies (GTsST) – have exploited a vulnerability in Exim mail transfer agent (MTA) software since at least August 2019. […]

The Accreditation Body responsible for orchestrating the implementation of the Defense Department’s (DoD) new cybersecurity standard for contractors released two requests for information on May 27 as the organization looks to begin training assessors this summer. […]