The COVID-19 pandemic has forced Federal, state, and local governments to adopt a hybrid cloud environment quickly, but their hybrid strategies have not been able to keep pace with the new accelerated reality of government. The bottom line: most agencies have a strategy in place, but are having trouble executing on it fully. […]

Taking advantage of cloud-based technology in an organization’s architecture requires a dual understanding from two different perspectives – those of the solutions architect, and the enterprise architect, a Defense Department technology official said on Feb. 17. […]

Members of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology agreed at a Feb. 17 hearing that the COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed the “equity gap” in broadband access, and called for both expanding service access in rural areas of the United States, and creating more affordable service access in urban areas of the country. […]

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), FBI, and the Treasury Department have issued a joint cybersecurity advisory about North Korean malicious activity known as “AppleJeus.” […]

The Defense Department’s (DoD) Office of the Director, Operational and Evaluation (DOT&E) emphasized in a new report that DoD needs to conduct cybersecurity testing on commercial cloud platforms that are used by the Defense Enterprise Office Solution (DEOS) cloud environment. […]

The General Services Administration (GSA) announced today that it has revamped the FedRAMP website to “further empower agencies to use innovative cloud technologies and to continue driving security and protection of Federal information.” […]

What’s the biggest lesson to be learned from the recent thwarting of an attempt by cyber criminals to poison the water supply in Oldsmar, Fla.?

According to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the hackers likely took advantage of an outdated operating system to gain access, and the agency said “continuing to use any operating system within an enterprise beyond the end of life status may provide cyber criminals access into computer systems.” […]

Persistent Defense of Department (DoD) delays in getting large enterprise-wide cloud projects up and running are getting in the way of long-term Pentagon objectives on cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI), and forcing some DoD operations to seek cloud work-arounds in the meantime. […]

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) created a Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) Profile using its Cybersecurity Framework that can be used as part of a risk management framework to assist organizations in managing risk to systems, networks, and assets that use PNT services. […]

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is turning to the private sector to help it collect, store, and disseminate medical images and data related to cancer screening. […]

The House Energy and Commerce Committee completed its portion of the budget reconciliation process, voting late on Feb. 12 to transmit the final part of the legislative language it was considering. […]

With IoT devices exploding in popularity and use in recent years, Reps. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., and John Katko, R-N.Y., reintroduced a bill that would direct the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to collect data from devices that connect to the Internet to ensure there is enough spectrum capacity. […]

In an audit of the Defense Department’s (DoD) cybersecurity requirements for weapon systems in the operations and support (O&S) phase of the DoD acquisition lifecycle, the DoD Inspector General (IG) highlighted five weapon systems that have been successfully updating cybersecurity requirements and meeting Risk Management Framework requirements. […]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is moving forward in its search for a new rover, according to a Feb. 12 solicitation on Beta.Sam.gov. […]

MeriTalk sat down with Jeff Grunewald, Force 3’s data center practice manager, and talked about all things data – from migrating to the cloud to crucial monitoring protocols. Having spent over 35 years working in the industry, Jeff knows a thing or two about data centers. Today, Jeff shares his insight on migrating data to the cloud and the critical importance of continuing monitoring protocols. […]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking a cloud-based Common Enterprise Loan Origination and Servicing (CELOS) platform. […]

In the Federal CDO Council report to congress on the summary of its activities and accomplishments in its first year, the Council said that for FY2021, it will meet regularly to support CDOs in efforts to increase the strategic use of data and develop and implement communications activities for stakeholders both inside and outside of […]

After Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the committee’s ranking member, called for the designation of a single official to lead the U.S. response to the Russia-backed hack of thousands of government and private-sector networks via SolarWinds Orion products, the White House confirmed to the senators that Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger is leading the effort. […]

The Treasury Department’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) employees have a new fashion accessory to wear to work – a contact-tracing device that utilizes 4G cellular data with the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has made progress on implementing its new electronic health records (EHR) system, but should postpone deployments of the system at additional locations because additional testing will likely identify issues that need to be resolved first, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report. […]

The Joint Artificial Intelligence Center and the Army Contracting Command have issued an Other Transaction Authority (OTA) Agreement to the Indiana Innovation Institute (IN3) to streamline procurement and delivery of AI capabilities for the Department of Defense (DoD). […]

Anne Neuberger, deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technology on President Biden’s National Security Council (NSC), said this week that the administration is working on a new national cybersecurity strategy and that it will likely feature some of the recommendations that have already been made by the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) but not yet implemented. […]

The House Energy and Commerce Committee met Feb. 11 to begin marking up the legislative language it will report to the House Budget Committee as part of the reconciliation process. Currently, there is $7.6 billion allocated by the committee to bolster the E-Rate program, as well as funding for COVID-19 testing and data management. […]

As agencies are scrambling to recover and build up their cybersecurity from the Russia-backed hack of thousands of government and private-sector networks via SolarWinds Orion products, Federal agency leaders say it will not be easy. […]

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., introduced new legislation on Feb. 10 that would provide $500 million of Federal funding to help states deploy new technologies to improve performance of their unemployment insurance systems – many of which have had trouble dealing with higher demand during the coronavirus pandemic. […]

Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., and Deb Fischer, R-Neb., along with Reps. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., and Anthony Gonzalez, R-Ohio, are introducing bipartisan and bicameral legislation that would require the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support research on privacy enhancing technologies. […]

The Army is looking to develop a high-energy laser system that will be able to detect and shoot drones out of the sky, in order to protect Department of Defense (DoD) operations. […]

The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is looking to acquire a cloud-based Digital Evidence Management System to support its Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) component. […]

The road to better cybersecurity for government and the private sector looks like a long, uphill climb, with no concept of a finish line. […]

The U.S. Army Materials Command is forgoing a competitive bidding process for cyber training services while it waits for a bid protest between two contractors to be resolved. […]