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Experts in data science and health shared expectations on Nov. 1 for the newly established Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (or ARPA-H), including that it should incorporate social determinants of health into its research and think about a reusable data structure. […]

voting booth, election security

Reps. Katie Porter, D-Cali., and Gerry Connolly, D-VA., introduced new legislation last week that aims to strengthen how the Federal government serves the American public by giving six agencies specific marching orders on improving online and other services. […]

The Federal government’s push to improve the nation’s cybersecurity posture across the board has taken shape through numerous policies and actions, but none are more important than the ongoing goal of creating more responsive operational collaboration with the private sector, Federal cybersecurity leaders said on Oct. 28. […]

Republican leaders on the House Energy and Commerce Committee introduced three pieces of new legislation last week that would direct Federal agencies with expertise over discrete industry sectors to take on larger roles in expanding cyber protections for those sectors. […]

FCC

The Federal Communications Commission on Oct. 27 voted to approve a notice of proposed rulemaking that aims to shore up the cybersecurity and operational readiness of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts. […]

Phil Fuster, vice president of sales at Proofpoint
Kemba Walden, Principal Deputy National Cyber Director, Office of the National Cyber Director

Kemba Walden, principal deputy national cyber director in the Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD), today laid out what to expect from her office over time as it puts into place a national cybersecurity plan, what ONCD expects of the private sector, and what both can expect from each other. […]

White House

The White House announced on Oct. 26 that it will expand the Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Cybersecurity Initiative to the chemical sector, as part of a larger effort to set cybersecurity baselines for critical infrastructure and protect infrastructure from cyber threats. […]

Reps. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., have introduced new legislation that aims to counter the influence of foreign adversaries on the United States telecommunications infrastructure – and beyond the current sanctions on China-based equipment makers including Huawei and ZTE. […]

Earlier this month, U.S. Cyber Command (CYBERCOM) conducted a wide-ranging defensive cyberspace operation focused on sweeping for known malware, and intended to “highlight and enhance CYBERCOM’s interoperability with partners.” […]

AI

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is seeking technical proposals for a new program that aims to develop automated approaches to conducting cybersecurity assessments on computer networks, according to an announcement posted to SAM.gov on Oct. 24. […]

The Surface Transportation Security Advisory Committee (STSAC) – which acts as an advisor to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) – has opened registrations for the public to attend its annual public meeting on Nov. 17 where the agenda features a variety of cybersecurity-related issues. […]

cyber workforce

New research from (ISC)² sheds light on what it would take to close the longstanding cyber workforce shortage, and the answer is a big number. According to new research from the nonprofit, the cybersecurity profession needs to grow by 3.4 million people to close the global workforce gap. […]

The Department of Education and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) need to do better in coordinating efforts to aid K-12 schools in cybersecurity, according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). […]

Ten months after President Biden released his executive order for government to improve customer experience, a new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) argues that Federal agencies are “still doing a poor job of measuring satisfaction, and they are conspicuously lagging in offering digital services.” […]

Concerns over Russian-sponsored attacks on the United States midterm elections have grown in the months leading up to next month’s contests, but the prospect of actual attack are less concerning than the perception that possible attacks create, according to Brian Liston, senior threat intelligence analyst at Recorded Future. […]

Federal cloud experts from the Department of Justice (DoJ) said this week that while government policy mandates for zero trust migration and cloud adoption are key to advancing IT modernization and security, they should also be paired with funding in order to help agencies get the job done. […]

Will Hurd, the Texas Republican who served in the House from 2015 to 2021 and became a leading voice in Congress on IT and security issues, said this week that he sees ongoing foreign-influence operations as a lasting concern for next month’s midterm elections in the United States. […]

website

With the U.S. midterm elections just around the corner and security concerns running high, a new survey finds that three-quarters of local election websites are not using the .gov domain to help boost site security and engender a higher degree of user trust.   […]

CISA

Improving the cybersecurity of the water critical infrastructure sector, K-12 schools, and healthcare sector are among the top priorities for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), agency Director Jen Easterly said today during Mandiant’s mWISE conference in Washington. […]

After more than eight years of trying, Russia has yet to realize its strategic cyber war-fighting goals in Ukraine, a top Ukrainian government technology official said on Oct. 19 at Mandiant’s Worldwide Information Security Exchange event in Washington. […]

Chris Inglis

National Cyber Director (NCD) Chris Inglis today previewed some themes from the national cybersecurity strategy that he’s working on – and said the long-awaited strategy should be publishing within the next couple of months. […]

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