The chairman and ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee today voiced some interest in considering Federal government regulation of social media companies and their services, but offered no concrete steps on how to do so. […]
Browser maker Mozilla has named Alan Davidson vice president of global policy, trust, and security. He was director of Digital Economy at the Department of Commerce from 2015 to 2017. […]
Karen Evans was sworn in Tuesday as assistant secretary of Energy for Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER)–a newly created position at the agency, after the Senate confirmed her nomination last week. […]
A cybersecurity exercise hosted by the Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA) revealed complications that can arise in the response to an attack on critical infrastructure including challenges in establishing authority among multiple agencies and levels of government. […]
Bob Kolasky, director of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) recently created National Risk Management Center (NRMC), said today that DHS is taking action this month to boost the level of communication and data exchange among state and local election officials in the run-up to the U.S. midterm elections in November. […]
The House of Representatives today approved by voice vote HR 6443, the Advancing Cybersecurity Diagnostics and Mitigation Act, which would codify the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) Program into law. […]
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a new webpage focusing on combating foreign influence campaigns. […]
The Census Bureau found nearly 3,100 security weaknesses after testing 33 of its 44 systems, leaving a large amount of work to be done before the 2020 Census, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on the agency’s IT systems. […]
The State Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) has issued a new report that flags security control issues for a data analytics test network and internal case management system operated by the Bureau of Consular Affairs’ Office of Fraud Prevention Programs (OFPP), and reported that OFPP is taking steps to resolve the problem. […]
Cybersecurity officials must balance strategic thinking on issues such as training and collaboration amid the tactical challenges of finding enough cyber professionals and funding, said Federal government executives during a panel at the Digital Government Institute’s 930Gov event on August 28. […]
News out of the Australian government this month provided a glaring reminder that the weakest link in the cybersecurity chain isn’t software vulnerabilities or patching cycles, it’s the person behind the keyboard. […]
Email authentication technologies provider Valimail said today it will provide its email anti-fraud service free of charge to state boards of election, voting system vendors, and major-party U.S. election campaigns. […]
The Senate late Tuesday approved by voice vote the nomination of Karen Evans as Assistant Secretary of Energy for Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER)–a newly created position at the agency. […]
John Noble, former director of the National Cyber Security Centre in the United Kingdom, took a pessimistic view on the future of cybersecurity during a BeyondTrust webinar on Wednesday. […]
The ransomware attack on the city of Atlanta in March of this year, which brought down numerous online city services for several days, should be seen as a warning for similar attacks on municipalities in the future with even more drastic impacts as city services become more reliant on IT systems, a senior Department of Homeland Security official said Tuesday. […]
Mitre, a non-profit organization that manages federally funded research and development centers supporting several Federal agencies, has tapped Gary Gagnon to be both VP of cyber strategy and chief security officer. […]
Matthew Travis, deputy undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security’s National Programs and Protection Directorate (NPPD), said today that DHS’s recently-established National Risk Management Center (NRMC) represents the agency’s plan to play “the long game” in defending U.S. critical infrastructure sectors from attacks. […]
Members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce called on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to conduct biennial reviews and provide dedicated funding to the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) program after finding erratic contracts and little planning documentation. The request was made via a letter to DHS Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen on Monday. […]
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Facebook, and Microsoft hosted a joint briefing on Friday, Aug. 24, for the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) and the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) regarding “actions being taken to combat malicious interference operations.” […]
The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) previewed the results of its biannual state CISO survey during a webinar on Tuesday, revealing the continued growth of cybersecurity staff among the states, and continuing resource challenges. […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) is seeking comments on a draft practice guide that explores how multifactor authentication can help reduce fraudulent online purchases. […]
The former chief security officer at Facebook urged in a column published today on the “Lawfare” blog that the U.S. consider creating an independent, “defense-only” cybersecurity agency to deal with defense of election systems and processes that may come under attack by adversaries. […]
Services provider KBR was awarded a $71 million task order from the Defense Health Agency (DHA). […]
With just 75 days to go until the 2018 midterm elections and amid mounting pressure for legislative action to boost election security, the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration postponed today’s scheduled business meeting on the Secure Elections Act, which would help state and local governments apply for Federal grants to modernize their election systems and receive relevant cyber threat information. […]
La’Naia Jones, Deputy CIO of the Intelligence Community, said today that the commoditization of hacking capabilities, expansion of IT supply chain exploits, and nation-state use of ransomware have come to the attention of the IC as primary areas of interest in the fight for better cybersecurity. […]
The Election Assistance Commission on Tuesday released most state budget data for Help America Vote Act (HAVA) grants, which revealed that a majority of the $380 million in grant money is being devoted to cybersecurity and new voting equipment. […]
The Department of Homeland Security is working with multiple Federal agencies to develop a new “risk radar” that will help agencies’ top executives contextualize cybersecurity risk and clarify where they need to apply focus and resources, according to Mark Kneidinger, director of the Federal Network Resilience division of DHS’ Office of Cybersecurity and Communications (CS&C). […]
Microsoft Corp. said late Monday that its Digital Crimes Unit seized – with the approval of a special master appointed by a federal court – six internet domains created by Strontium, a hacker organization associated with the Russian government. […]
The Department of Homeland Security today released a request for information (RFI) calling on the private sector to provide DHS with information on strategies and tools to augment its cyber supply chain risk management program. […]
The Defense Department is pushing full speed ahead on modernization efforts, with recent strides made on a $28 billion R&D project, a $10 billion cloud infrastructure proposed contract, efforts to move cyber defense infrastructure to the cloud, along with myriad advanced research and futuristic projects. They’re even working to overhaul their travel planning system. Call it AirDoD, perhaps? […]