Smarter Gov Tech, Stronger MerITocracy
Cloud United States Federal

Hybrid clouds can be an integral part of government agencies’ information technology modernization strategies by helping to provide consistency across on-premise and public cloud platforms to ease migration, integration, and operation across the platforms. […]

Census 2020
James Mattis Defense Secretary DoD

In a memo dated Oct. 24, Secretary of Defense James Mattis established the Protecting Critical Technology Task Force (PCTTF) to protect the Department of Defense’s (DoD) “critical technology.” The task force will work to prevent the loss of classified and controlled unclassified information–the loss of which is “putting the Department’s investments at risk and eroding the lethality and survivability of our forces.” […]

Cybersecurity flag

How can the U.S. deter adversaries and impose costs on enemies launching cyberattacks against the country? With new strategies and policies opening up room for more aggressive responses, the best defense just might be a good offense, Federal cybersecurity leaders discussed Thursday. […]

The newest round of Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) awards came after the TMF board reviewed more than 40 proposals from agencies looking to win funds from the program, according to Federal Deputy CIO Margie Graves. […]

Federal Cloud Flag

The Professional Services Council told Federal CIO Suzette Kent in an Oct. 24 letter in response to the Office of Management and Budget’s request for comments on the 2018 Federal Cloud Computing Strategy that it “supports efforts to build on the 2011 Federal Cloud Computing Strategy, the ‘Cloud First’ policy, to help Federal agencies leverage commercial solutions to provide the best services at best value to the American people.” […]

The International Telecommunication Union–a United Nations agency for information and communications technology–announced the re-election of Houlin Zhao of China as ITU Secretary-General.  […]

World globe trade

Freedom House’s annual report on internet freedom, entitled “Freedom on the Net” and released today, finds that global internet freedom is on the decline for the eighth consecutive year. […]

DHS Homeland Security

While the National Cyber Strategy released by the Trump administration in September may not include many differences in policy compared to the prior version from 2015, the real change comes in the shift from policy to action, including an implementation plan for the National Cyber Strategy, said Grant Schneider, the Federal government’s chief information security officer, on Thursday. […]

The Department of Justice (DoJ) on Tuesday announced charges against Chinese government intelligence officers Zha Rong and Chai Meng, among others, for conspiring to steal intellectual property, confidential business information, and technological data from companies in the U.S. and European commercial aviation industry. […]

Air Force
ransomware

The incidence of ransomware attacks in the U.S. has leveled off since 2017 for a variety of reasons, including improved defenses by targeted organizations that have made such attacks less profitable for perpetrators, experts said Tuesday at the 2018 Symantec  Government Symposium. […]

elections, election security, voting

The Defense Department is lending assistance to the Department of Homeland Security as DHS works to protect election infrastructure in the run-up to next week’s mid-term congressional elections, said Ed Wilson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy, on Tuesday at the Symantec 2018 Government Symposium. […]

NIST

The Commerce Department will soon be releasing a draft “road map” on Internet of Things (IoT) security issues, an official with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)–which is part of the Commerce Department–indicated Tuesday during a panel discussion at the 2018 Symantec Government Symposium. […]

Cerner, the contractor providing electronic health records systems to both the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs, offered an update on Tuesday on those projects and cited some early successes from test implementations. […]

elections, election security, voting
Blockchain binary

The excitement and hype around blockchain may have died down, but some Federal IT leaders are looking to blockchain to complement other emerging technologies by providing clean, trusted, and richer data to support operations and provide deeper insights. […]

Washington DC capitol federal government-min

Paras Jha, one of three people responsible for the Mirai Botnet, was ordered on Friday to pay $8.6 million in damages and serve six months of house arrest after pleading guilty to violating the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act (CFAA) in Federal district court in New Jersey. […]

Google HQ
Symantec
DOE Department of Energy Building

The Department of Energy Office of Inspector General released a report on Oct. 19 that found several weaknesses in the cybersecurity program at DoE in fiscal year 2018, including recurring issues in vulnerability management, patching, and formal cybersecurity training policies. […]

Cyber workforce people

The answer to that question is “yes,” according to a white paper released today by New America, a non-partisan think tank. The white paper argues that while the United States has been engaged in cybersecurity for more than a generation, there are still “organizational and human gaps” that leave the country insecure. […]

.gov website cybersecurity government

After some fits and starts, Federal agencies are gaining ground in efforts to better secure their websites and email systems by employing HTTPS encryption, and installing the Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) anti-phishing protocol, among other measures […]

procurement acquisition sales e-commerce buy buying

A team of Federal and industry experts well versed in establishing relationships between the government and private sector spoke Wednesday at NVIDIA’s GTC Conference about how to crack the Federal marketplace with new and emerging technology. […]

supply chain risk management process automation

The General Services Administration aims to use data analytics to detect if requests for information and proposals for IT products meet section 508 compliance requirements, according to Marina Fox, .gov domain services program manager at GSA. […]

DHS Homeland Security

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shared details on its Cyber Risk Economics Capability Gaps Research Strategy, which is part of its Cyber Risk Economics (CYRIE) program, in a blog post on Tuesday. […]

Cybersecurity cyber

Former Department of Defense officials today offered mostly positive reviews of the current administration’s approach to cybersecurity–including the National Cybersecurity Strategy and the DoD Cyber Strategy–while taking note of the risks posed by more offensive-minded leanings featured in those policies. […]

Suzette Kent

Federal CIO Suzette Kent said today that the advancement of artificial intelligence technologies is of primary importance to the Federal government, as agencies begin to determine their AI priorities and a picture of government-wide investment begins to form. […]

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