The National Security Agency (NSA) released a cybersecurity alert on Dec. 7 warning that state-sponsored hackers based in Russia have been attacking remote workspaces and exploiting a vulnerability in a suite of VMware products. […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released draft guidance targeted at cloud service providers (CSPs) to help them protect application containers in multi-tenant environments, taking a hardware-based approach to security. […]
President Trump signed the Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act into law Dec. 7. […]
Google today announced its Google Workspace for Government product, a cloud-based system that aims to meet the needs of public sector customers by providing Google Cloud collaboration and communication tools to Federal customers. The service will become available early next year. […]
Google Cloud said today it has reached an agreement with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and the U.S. Air Force (USAF) to modernize initial flight training for Air Force pilots through the use of cloud technology. USAF will host its immersive training devices (ITDs) on Google Cloud, which will help scale the project to thousands […]
President-elect Joe Biden said today he will nominate California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The nomination will be subject to Senate confirmation. Becerra is a former member of Congress and would become the first Latino to head HHS. […]
Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, is leading a bipartisan group of 49 members of Congress urging Senate and House leadership to include in end-of-year legislation language to make permanent Medicare telehealth expansions that were enacted earlier this year. […]
Microsoft announced a new cloud service today that will help serve U.S. government customers with Top Secret classified data. […]
As the coronavirus pandemic hits the nine-month mark in December – and infection rates soar across the United States – telework remains mostly in place for most of the Federal government workforce whose jobs can be done offsite. […]
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) is looking to implement an enterprise “grey network” to enable Department of Defense (DoD) components to securely support classified remote programs, a DISA official explained. […]
The COVID-19 pandemic moved the zero trust network security model from a theoretical discussion in many government agencies to a priority, government and industry executives said Dec. 3 during MeriTalk’s virtual CDM Central conference. […]
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) completed a website redesign for ease of access on Dec. 3, according to a press release from FDIC OIG communications specialist Caitlin McDaniel. The site houses audits, investigations, and reports completed by the department, and now includes filters to sort through those reports easier. The site is also home to joint press releases with the Department of Justice about investigations into the banking sector. […]
Even as we enter the winter months, advances in IT continue to heat up as we anticipate the potential benefits and challenges of emerging technologies. Top of mind is the future promise of artificial intelligence (AI) to revolutionize government, but less discussed is the possibility of a freeze in AI productivity – a result of insufficient data sets or security concerns that prevent data sharing. […]
President Trump signed an executive order (EO) on Dec. 3 that sets forth guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies for Federal civilian agencies, and a roadmap to implementing those guidelines that will out-last the current administration set to depart on January 20. […]
Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) Program Manager Kevin Cox today discussed the possibility of a higher funding baseline for the CDM program in Fiscal Year 2022 that would allow the program through its DEFEND contract to tackle more security work for Federal agencies at a faster pace. […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the Census Bureau to make a series of late-stage adjustments to the census design and these changes have opened risks to the “quality of data that the Bureau provides for apportioning congressional representation among the states.” […]
For the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) to further narrow the pay gap for Federal workers, better quality data on promotions is needed as it is often incomplete. […]
The Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program is making progress but has run into issues with the data that commercial capabilities report to its dashboards, making it difficult for the program to quickly pull insights from that data, said Judy Baltensperger, project manager for CDM program dashboard operations, today at MeriTalk’s CDM Central event. […]
A Department of Defense Information Network (DoDIN) official explained Nov.2 that some of the organization’s priorities in defending cloud-based services used by the Defense Department, and a range of the technologies involved in that effort. […]
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is launching an inspector general (IG) investigation into Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) warrantless tracking of phones after an inquiry from Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii. […]
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), working in collaboration with the Defense Innovation Unit, is seeing promising early results for pre-symptomatic detection of COVID-19 among personnel. […]
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) should put a greater emphasis on data to best further advance category management and help leverage the Federal government’s buying power, save taxpayer dollars, and eliminate duplicative contracts. […]
The first steps of the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) stronger approach to securing the defense industrial base take effect today, setting the stage for full implementation of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program, said Katie Arrington, the Defense Department’s (DoD) CISO for Acquisition and Sustainment. […]
The FedRAMP Program Management Office (PMO) recapped its efforts to gather feedback from Third Party Assessment Organizations (3PAOs) in a new blog post. […]
Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Director Vice Adm. Nancy Norton said today she expects to release reference architecture documents “very shortly” for DISA’s planned implementation of zero trust security concepts. […]
A senior Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) official said today that the coronavirus pandemic may turn out to have one silver lining – it has helped the agency and the Defense Department (DoD) to be more innovative and flexible with their use of technology to accommodate dislocations including telework requirements. […]
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) intends to release a new cloud solicitation at the beginning of next year, according to a post on DHS’ website. […]
In a new report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is highlighting policy options to improve artificial intelligence (AI) tools that in turn can improve data access, create best practices, and improve health care delivery. […]
The Department of Defense (DoD) issued a November 20 memo to component agencies that will allow civilian employees with kids to continue working remotely until at least June 30, 2021, extending the COVID-related telework flexibilities issued by DoD in March. […]
NASA’s Technology Transfer Program is soliciting inquires from companies interested in licensing its cloud-based Sky Router technology, according to a Nov. 30 Special Notice on Beta.Sam.gov. […]