Our bad habits make agencies and organizations vulnerable to cyber attacks. So what can agencies do better to improve cybersecurity? Hint: Don’t click on those links. Analytics and two-factor authentication also can help, and organizations must reduce dwell times so they identify cyberattacks more quickly. Matt Alderman, vice president of strategy at Tenable, spoke with […]
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report calling for better management of Federal IT service contracts at the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the General Services Administration. The Oct. 22 GAO report follows a similar directive issued last week by the Office of Management and […]
Chief information security officers (CISOs) and other IT executives have become more proactive in their approach to cybersecurity investment and risk management, according to a new study. “Over the past couple of years the landscape has changed dramatically,” researchers at Southern Methodist University’s Darwin Deason Institute for Cyber Security found. “Cyber risk is now a […]
The Senate passed the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) Tuesday by an overwhelming vote of 74-21. The bill, which now goes to the House, would improve cybersecurity by enabling more rapid information sharing on emerging threats between the government and the private sector. Lawmakers struck down five amendments to the bill that were designed to […]
Retired General Keith Alexander told a group of Federal government and industry experts that the U.S. must do more to protect the Internet and boost cybersecurity. “We are the nation that created the Internet. We ought to be the first to secure it,” Alexander said at the Splunk GovSummitt in downtown Washington on Thursday. Alexander, […]
Repeated cyber attacks seemingly have done little to improve cybersecurity awareness among employees. A social experiment over the summer by IT industry group CompTIA resulted in nearly one in five people putting computers at risk by sticking a thumb drive into a device without knowing whether the USB carried a virus or contained other threats. […]
With Internet security on everyone’s mind and secure cloud on everyone’s bucket list throughout the Federal government, Verizon is expanding secure access to cloud services for Federal customers on its private IP network. Federal agencies now can securely connect to a growing roster of FedRAMP-certified cloud providers via Verizon’s Secure Cloud Interconnect (SCI) service. Featuring […]
Forty-five percent of Federal agencies reported that they were the target during the past year of a digital insider — an employee with authorized network access who knowingly steals or unwittingly exposes sensitive data. And at least a third of those agencies reported suffering an actual loss of data. But as MeriTalk’s recent survey of […]
Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) didn’t waste any time at a recent field hearing to say Federal agencies are dragging their feet when it comes to cloud computing. “We deserve a Federal government that harnesses innovative solutions such as the cloud to modernize record keeping, improve critical government functions, maximize security, and be wise stewards of […]
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a new report on how it can expand its information technology capabilities to meet the relentless and growing demands the agency faces. The report, titled “Mission Possible: How FDA Can Move at the Speed of Science,” is the work of the FDA Science Looking Forward Subcommittee, and […]
Peter Romness, the Cybersecurity Solutions Lead for Cisco U.S. Public Sector, spoke with MeriTalk at this year’s Cyber Security Brainstorm in Washington, D.C., about the security challenges posed by what Cisco refers to as the Digitization of Everything (DoE). Taped on Sept. 23 Peter Romness: The MeriTalk Interview View on YouTube […]
FedRAMP last week unveiled an online training course to help users understand the new review and approve process. The training is available on the agency’s training page. The new training is intended to help FedRAMP cloud service providers (CSPs) and others understand the lengthy and complex process to receive FedRAMP compliance. According to FedRAMP, […]
The General Services Administration’s (GSA) digital services team last week introduced a new Federal cloud service intended to help agencies develop applications in the cloud. 18F, the 19-month old digital consultancy that is part of GSA’s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, will provide agencies with a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solution that rests on its […]
Have you ever wondered why it’s really taking the government so long to move more than basic email services to the cloud? Well, if you have then you are certainly familiar with the standard cultural and security explanations: Federal IT managers like to be able to see and touch the blinking lights on their servers […]
Three members of Congress have been named co-chairs of the Cloud Computing Caucus Advisory Group, the organization supporting congressional efforts to boost cloud computing initiatives throughout the Federal government. Representatives Barbara Comstock (R-Va.), Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), and Mark Walker (R-NC) join founding co-chair Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) on the advisory group. Their participation in the Cloud […]
Paul Christman, vice president of Dell Software Federal, spoke with MeriTalk at this year’s Cyber Security Brainstorm in Washington, D.C., about the difficulty of establishing baseline security controls and why automation is key to cybersecurity efforts in government agencies of all sizes. Paul Christman: The MeriTalk Interview View on YouTube […]
Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) didn’t waste any time at a recent field hearing to say Federal agencies are dragging their feet when it comes to cloud computing. “We deserve a Federal government that harnesses innovative solutions such as the cloud to modernize record keeping, improve critical government functions, maximize security, and be wise stewards of […]
Many senior-level Federal IT managers would like to use big data and think it could improve their missions, but only 16 percent have full-blown big data programs underway, according to a new survey from Unisys Corporation. The survey, conducted this summer by Beacon Technology Partners, was based on interviews with 100 Federal executives, split evenly […]
Employees at the Labor Department wanted larger email inboxes. The department’s chief information officer gave them that and got much more when she moved email to the cloud. “The requirements and the benefits that we expected in the cloud – and the challenges – are as we expected. But there are some benefits, including IT […]
Cloud computing’s benefits outweigh the risks associated with moving data and applications to the cloud, panelists said at the Cloud Computing Caucus Advisory Group meeting this week. Cultural hurdles and practical concerns about making the transition from legacy systems to cloud computing continue to prevent more rapid adoption of cloud computing initiatives, and Federal agencies […]
Since client server and traditional web enabled IT architectures became popular in large enterprises in the mid 90s, organizations developed the practice of building enterprise applications layer upon layer, acquiring dedicated pools of hardware, middleware, software and applications, based on a previously defined set of requirements. This practice is still in vogue within many government […]
A new global survey by Deloitte Digital aims to understand what factors contribute to digital transformation success in government and the barriers that lead to some agencies becoming digital laggards. In a 44-page study based on the survey and more than 140 interviews with public sector officials from more than 70 countries, Deloitte authors William […]
The CIA’s new Digital Innovation Directorate — the first new directorate established by the agency in more than 50 years — began official operations Thursday, marking what the agency is characterizing as a major milestone in the comprehensive modernization effort announced in March. The new so-called DDI is tasked with accelerating the integration of advanced […]
A new report from the General Accountability Office (GAO) is at the center of the increasingly heated debate over the Medicare and Medicaid electronic health record (EHR) incentive program. The current debate stems around the pace at which Stage 3 of the meaningful use incentive requirements should be issued and the difficulties in achieving interoperability. […]
Cloud Service Provider (CSP) Esri last week earned a rare distinction – its Managed Cloud Services became the first system to transition from a CSP supplied package to an agency FedRAMP authorization. Esri, based in Redlands, California, initially earned its Authority to Operate (ATO) at the moderate level from the U.S. Census Bureau. Esri provides […]
Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) last week urged Federal agencies to stop wasting money on legacy computer systems and move more quickly with cloud computing initiatives. “Legacy systems are expensive to operate and often make sensitive information vulnerable to cyber attacks,” Hurd said at the House Oversight Committee’s subcommittee on Information Technology field hearing at the […]
Despite the growing threat and success of cyberattacks on government and commercial sites, the information community around the world is failing to recruit talented women with the expertise to create a tougher information security wall, a new report says. The 2015 global report, “Women in Security: Wisely Positioned for the Future of InfoSec,” by (ISC)² […]
The world is a big place and we can learn a lot by studying how different governments and business cultures approach the pressing technology challenges of the day. David Bray recently had a chance to do just that. As a 2015 Eisenhow Fellow, Bray spent 5 weeks visiting with senior government and industry leaders in […]
Insiders remain a significant threat to Federal agencies. A recent report, “Inside Job: The Federal Insider Threat Report,” illustrates the ongoing danger Federal agencies face from insider threats and the work agencies need to do to protect data. In the past year, 45 percent of Federal IT managers say their agency has been a target […]
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) issued its latest version of a Health IT Strategic Plan last week, expanding it significantly over the plan released last year. This year’s plan, which covers goals to be accomplished between 2015 and 2020, is a result of ONC’s collaboration with 35 Federal partners, […]