The Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (OASCR) is looking for a new cloud-based Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) complaint tracking system. […]
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) should develop outcome-oriented performance measures and data collection measures to better position it to assess the effectiveness of its initiatives to diversify its security technology marketplace, and give small businesses better chances in the TSA marketplace, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. […]
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on March 3 issued an emergency directive to Federal civilian agencies to patch a critical vulnerability in Microsoft Exchange on-premises products. The agency said that cloud services such as Microsoft 365 and Azure systems “are not known to be affected by this vulnerability.” […]
Wanda Jones, the chief security information officer at the U.S. Air Force, said her agency has seen a high level of productivity after the switch to remote work and plans to continue to telework beyond the pandemic, while keeping security top of mind. […]
The Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) organization has appointed Sonny Bhagowalia as its permanent CIO, MeriTalk has confirmed, letting him take the word “acting” off his business cards. Bhagowalia had held the position in an acting capacity since last June when former CBP CIO Phil Landfried retired. […]
The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) – which drives the Defense Department’s (DoD) effort to make faster use of emerging commercial technologies – reported a 35 percent year-over-year jump in new projects for 2020. […]
The Federal government’s response to the Russia-backed SolarWinds cyberhack – and the pressing need for government agencies to speed progress on putting in place cybersecurity protections including through the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program – […]
Working beyond organizational boundaries and improving access to digital services is critical for IT modernization and the Biden-Harris administration’s Federal IT priorities. […]
The use of telehealth skyrocketed throughout 2020, and while helped stem the spread of COVID-19, its increased use laid bare the logistical and regulatory challenges facing telehealth. […]
In a blog post for the General Services Administration (GSA), Commissioner at GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service (FAS) Sonny Hashmi outlined FAS’ commitment to progressing reform initiatives, administrative priorities, pandemic support, and data management. […]
General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) recently welcomed the addition of Amazon Web Services GovCloud services to the milCloud 2.0 lineup under an agreement announced last month. The new partnership gives Department of Defense (DoD) mission partners an easy and effective way to adopt both fit-for-purpose and general purpose cloud capabilities for a wide variety of workloads. […]
The Army’s Deputy CIO Greg Garcia retired on Feb. 26, ending nearly four decades in Federal service, Army’s CIO office confirmed. Garcia served as the Army’s first deputy CIO since last August when the CIO and G-6 offices split into separate organizations. […]
The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) published its 2021 report today in which it concludes that “the United States must act now to field AI systems and invest substantially more resources in AI innovation to protect its security, promote its prosperity, and safeguard the future of democracy.” […]
Sec. of Defense Lloyd Austin announced that President Joe Biden has made a slew of appointments at the Pentagon, including two in the cyber realm. […]
Homeland Security (DHS) found that the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency has improved its technology on the U.S. southwest border, but still have challenges to tackle. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has teamed with T-Mobile to deploy 5G capabilities for the Miami VA Healthcare System, providing 5G service to medical staff and patients with capable devices. […]
Government agencies and the private sector will spend $100 billion or more to recover from the SolarWinds hack, which went undetected for at least nine months and may have compromised 18,000 government and private sector organizations using SolarWinds Orion software. Even if breached organizations successfully mitigate the damage from SolarWinds, they know adversaries aren’t going to stop trying to get in. If they plug one vector of attack, the adversary will find another to exploit. […]
This February, milCloud 2.0 – one of the key pillars of the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) cloud strategy – celebrated its third anniversary, and it continues to offer DoD mission partners a rapid path for cloud migration. […]
The House Homeland Security and Oversight and Reform committees held a joint public hearing today to discuss the Russia-based hack of government and private sector networks via SolarWinds Orion products. During the hearing, both the private sector witnesses and members of Congress called for better cybersecurity practices, legislation, and increased information sharing. […]
The Federal Communications Commission has voted to formally adopt a Report and Order that establishes the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program. The program uses $3.2 billion in Federal funding to provide qualifying households discounts on their internet service bills and an opportunity to receive a discount on a computer or tablet. […]
Federal leaders agreed during a Feb. 25 virtual conference organized by GovExec that the Federal government needs to change its mindset and culture to allow for more telework in the future, even after the COVID-19 pandemic. […]
Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., are introducing legislation that will provide up to $15 billion in matching grants to increase access to broadband services in areas of the United States that are unserved by broadband meeting the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) minimum definition of that service. […]
The bipartisan Cyber Diplomacy Act was reintroduced in the house this week. The legislation, cosponsored by Reps. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., Michael McCaul, R-Texas, Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., and Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., and Bill Keating, D-Mass., will require the State Department to open the Bureau of International Cyberspace Policy. […]
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced today that DHS will increase the required minimum spend on cybersecurity through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant awards from 5 percent to 7.5 percent – approximately a $25 million increase across the country. […]
The Department of Labor’s (DoL) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report stating the agency is making progress on improving the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program, which has faced billions of dollars in widespread unemployment compensation fraud during the COVID-19 pandemic. […]
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) named Matt Hartman the deputy executive assistant director of cybersecurity at the agency this month, confirmed by Hartman’s LinkedIn profile. […]
While it’s no secret that the healthcare sector became a major target for ransomware attacks during the COVID-19 pandemic, former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Chris Krebs is shedding new light on the tone of CISA’s efforts to bite back against health-sector threats. […]
Federal leaders agreed on Feb. 24 at a virtual conference organized by FCW that while implementing the Federal government’s Identity, Credential, and Access Management (ICAM) framework can be difficult, ICAM is the key to the government’s digital transformation. […]
Amid the shift to widescale telework to stem the spread of COVID-19, Federal, state, and local government (SLG) employees are dealing with an increase in credential-theft mobile attacks. […]
The U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) is looking to streamline desk and conference room reservations through a cloud-based solution. […]