Several former commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission warned the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the consequences of delay in passing a Federal privacy standard during a hearing on Wednesday. […]
On Sept. 23, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released a “historic” update to its flagship security and privacy guidance, Special Publication (SP) 800-53, Security and Privacy Controls for Information Systems and Organizations. […]
As the U.S. faces increased foreign cyber threats, the Department of State said in 2019 that it would stand up a Bureau of Cyberspace Security and Emerging Technologies (CSET) to address these threats, but according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), State hasn’t informed or involved other partners in the bureau planning, which could increase risks of duplicating efforts. […]
Federal agencies, such as the Small Business Administration and National Oceanic Atmospheric Association, are realizing the scalability and cost benefits of a multi-cloud environment as they navigate remote work and service delivery. But, for agencies both new to and well-versed in the cloud, Booz Allen Hamilton cloud leaders John Pisano and Jimmy Pham are advising that governance from the get-go is a key consideration for making a multi-cloud environment more effective. […]
Six months into a highly successful make-or-break campaign to put the Federal government workforce on a remote-work footing to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, the hard-won experience of that battle has paved the way for renewed action on broader IT modernization, government and private sector officials said on a recent MeriTalk webinar. […]
MeriTalk caught up with the Center for Democracy & Technology’s Director of the Data and Privacy Project Michelle Richardson, a witness for the committee back in April, to get her take on this week’s Senate hearing, what has changed recently in the privacy world, and the prospects for a Federal privacy standard. […]
In a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was found to not be taking enough action to protect information exchanged with affiliated agencies, contractors, and state, local, and tribal groups. […]
On Sept. 16, Reps. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., and Bill Foster, D-Ill., introduced bipartisan legislation to advance quantum technology through the Quantum Network Infrastructure Act of 2020. […]
A new report from the Greater Washington Partnership revealed that employers in the National Capital Region that responded to their survey plan to have 72 percent of their employees return to the office by summer 2021, but a third of those respondents are still unsure of their reopening plans that far in advance. […]
A group of Republican senators introduced a bill to create a national data privacy standard, formally bringing forth a bill that had been released as a staff draft almost a year ago. […]
Weeks after the Department of Defense announced additional mid-band spectrum would be available for industry use, the department is circling back to industry requesting more information on spectrum sharing. […]
On Friday, Assistant Director for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Bryan Ware announced that the agency was issuing Emergency Directive 20-04, which instructs Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies to apply a security update for Microsoft’s Windows Servers to all domain controllers. […]
In the September 2020 President’s Management Agenda (PMA) updates, two Federal agencies focused on rural broadband expansion reported they are meeting key milestones. […]
A key Congressman on the House Armed Services Committee spoke in support of three technology bills Friday, expressing optimism with the “bipartisan and bicameral” legislation as the legislative calendar for this session of Congress winds down. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is launching several real-time customer experience surveys on its websites to monitor feedback from veterans on their use of VA.gov, according to the agency’s September 2020 President’s Management Agenda (PMA) update. […]
Worldwide traveling restrictions have limited the Department of State’s progress for its Agency Priority Goal Action Plan of enhancing security monitoring solutions, the agency reported in a September update to its PMA goals. […]
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is recommending that the Treasury Department take steps – in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security and others – to better track and prioritize cyber risk mitigation efforts across the financial services sector. […]
In a coordinated effort across three district courts, the Department of Justice unsealed indictments this week in three separate cases against Iran-based individuals all alleged to have committed cyber intrusions on U.S.-based networks. […]
The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) Office of Field Operations has launched its new biometrics entry/exit website to provide a communications channel for promoting facial recognition comparison technology and biometric information. […]
Members of the congressionally-mandated National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) told a House panel on Sept. 17 that “bolder action” is necessary to bring sufficient digital talent into the government, and recommended the creation of a United States Digital Services Academy to meet that need. […]
Despite the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of State has managed to meet or be on track for the majority of its Q3 FY2020 goals set in its Agency Priority Goal Action Plan for IT Modernization as part of the President’s Management Agenda (PMA). […]
Three officials with milCloud 2.0 highlighted a range of successful customer use and migration cases to the cloud service at the first-ever milCloud 2.0 Virtual Bootcamp Event on September 10, organized by General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) and MeriTalk. Powered by GDIT, milCloud 2.0 connects cloud service offerings to Department of Defense (DoD) networks, and provides […]
Rory Kinney, Services Executive at the Defense Information Systems Agency’s (DISA) Operations Center, praised the operational balance that milCloud 2.0 services can bring to Department of Defense (DoD) organizations looking to move to cloud services, and forecasted that milCloud 2.0 is in line for a FedRAMP certification upgrade early next year. […]
FBI Director Chris Wray said on Sept. 16 that his agency hasn’t seen any attempts thus far by foreign actors to attack the U.S. voter registration databases in the run-up to the November elections, or any attempt to tamper with vote counts. […]
Officials from the Department of Defense’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center met with military and defense personnel from a dozen other nations this week to discuss the use of artificial intelligence for military purposes. […]
The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have identified an Iran-based cyber actor that is exploiting a virtual private network and targeting several Federal agencies, according to a joint advisory released this week. […]
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) official said on Sept. 16 that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is taking action on several major IT modernization and cybersecurity issues that GAO has flagged in recent years, but that the agency still has a lot of work to do to address many of them. […]
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has provided an update on its efforts to advance Data Center and Cloud Optimization (DCC). […]
A new study shows that the transition to 5G wireless services will create an additional 4.6 million jobs in the United States by 2034 – and that the move to the latest generation of wireless technology has created over 100,000 jobs already since last year. […]
Gen. Paul Nakasone, who heads both the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, today expressed confidence in the country’s ability to conduct safe and secure elections in November, while also warning that foreign influence operations pose an ongoing challenge for the U.S. […]