An annual report issued by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) flags leadership stability and cybersecurity issues among the “most serious management and performance challenges” facing the agency currently. […]
To improve the future of cybersecurity posture for the United States, experts agree that improving on basic security measures and shifting culture to compete with industry in the workforce are essential elements. […]
There’s been a lot in the news lately about what the Defense Department (DoD) wants to do with cloud services down the road, but a whole lot less about who’s already getting the cloud services job done today for America’s warfighters. […]
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is looking to replace its existing Enterprise Talent Management System and implement a cloud-based application to meet the department’s needs, according to a solicitation released November 15. The solicitation is open until December 9. […]
Reps. Ken Buck, R-Colo., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., introduced a bill on Nov. 15 that would require all Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) files to be submitted to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in a digital, searchable electronic format. […]
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) launched a new broadband initiative dubbed the Minority Broadband Initiative (MBI), that will focus on “solving broadband deployment challenges in vulnerable communities.” […]
The Animal and Plant Health Service (APHIS) within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is proposing to add a new system of records notice to its current inventory of records systems. […]
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released its list of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) topics for FY20. […]
The House Science Committee voted to approve H.R. 4990, the Election Technology Research Act of 2019, on Nov. 14. […]
Data may be the new oil, or even gold – but only if agencies can capture, structure and put it to use. So, what can government agencies do to take back control and unlock their data potential? And, how are they applying data regulations like the Federal Data Strategy and Evidence-Based Policymaking Act to abstract data complexity while also increasing privacy? […]
Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., a co-chair of the House Cybersecurity Caucus and one of the few widely acknowledged experts in Congress on cybersecurity, said on Nov. 14 that a lack of data “baselines” on security issues continues to hamper efforts in Congress – and the nation as a whole – to improve security. […]
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, suggested on Nov. 14 that Congress and the Trump administration could get more done to improve Federal cybersecurity if more agencies critical to that effort were headed by Senate-confirmed secretaries, rather than acting secretaries. […]
Kevin Cox, program manager for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program, today discussed the program’s progress in generating AWARE (Agency-Wide Adaptive Risk Enumeration) algorithm scores for Federal agencies to track relative security status, and about how the program plans to refine the scoring process in the future. […]
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released draft versions of its strategies on cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) today, setting the stage for the agency’s adoption of the emerging technologies. […]
In the agency’s latest effort to protect sensitive information, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) partnered with the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) to develop biometric and behavior-based access credentials for employees. […]
As part of its Centers of Excellence (CoE) initiative, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is looking to replace the application it uses for annuity claims and move from legacy software to a new web app, according to two requests for information released November 12. […]
As the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) continues working toward a paperless future, the agency has already completed online filing systems for several documents and, and is touting successes with its online account system. […]
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is a target for cybercriminals, but the agency is failing to adequately protect itself, according to a Nov. 13 report by the NASA Office of the Inspector General (OIG). […]
Amid new mandates for government data use and cloud migration, data management is top of mind for agency leaders. But cost, infrastructure modernization and threat prevention remain a challenge. MeriTalk spoke with David Bailey, senior director of U.S. Public Sector Technical Sales at Veritas, about how agencies can plan their first steps toward a cohesive, sustainable data strategy, as well as the factors behind today’s unprecedented data growth. […]
The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee approved by voice vote today the Harvesting American Cybersecurity Knowledge through Education Act (HACKED Act) (S 2775), which aims to boost the Federal cybersecurity workforce with new guidelines for agencies, clearer career paths for the workforce, and improved coordination between agencies. […]
A bill introduced by Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., on Nov. 8 would establish a new Center of Excellence (CoE) and fund elections systems research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). […]
The State Department is looking to develop IT professionals through the Foreign Affairs Information Technology (FAIT) Fellowship. […]
Election security will remain an operational priority for the Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency (CISA) “for the foreseeable future,” a CISA official said at a Nov. 12 event. […]
A Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency (CISA) interagency workgroup – focused at least in part on supply chain and control systems security issues – aims to have an executive committee meeting early next year to discuss cybersecurity challenges in both the public and private sectors. […]
A new study from consulting firm Deloitte finds that the lion’s share of artificial intelligence (AI) technology use cases being pursued by public sector organizations involve quality control, cybersecurity, and workforce management applications. […]
The Brennan Center for Justice argued in a Nov. 12 report that the Federal government needs to hold election technology vendors to higher cybersecurity standards in order to receive Federal certification. To that end, the Center offered up a new framework for oversight. […]
In a Nov. 7 letter, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., urged Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and National Security Agency (NSA) Director Gen. Paul Nakasone to conduct a cybersecurity audit of mobile voting app Voatz to “determine whether it can reliably protect the votes of U.S. servicemembers against foreign hacking.” […]
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has taken an ad-hoc approach to cloud adoption instead of following its cloud strategy, and did not fully implement security measures, according to a report from the SEC’s inspector general released November 7. […]
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on Nov. 8 providing updates and recommendations on the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014 (DATA Act). The report offered two recommendations for the Treasury Department. […]
The U.S. Election Assistance Commission Office of the Inspector General (OIG) on Nov. 1 released an audit plan for $380 million grant funding appropriated in 2018, which includes audits of election security grant funds for six states. […]