What would it take to make America work better for everybody? Perhaps convene bipartisan Congressional power structures, government agency secretaries, and America’s tech industry leaders to pick the most pressing problems for citizens in our democracy? Then figure out how to begin solving those problems with innovative technology and bold leadership? […]
While Federal cybersecurity leaders have prioritized detection, remediation, and zero trust policies due to the recent flood of cyberattacks, new research – “Containing the Cyber Threat Tsunami” – uncovers the desire to shift the current security mindset to a greater emphasis on breach prevention. […]
Recent cyberattacks on critical infrastructure have elevated cybersecurity in the national discourse. For everyday citizens all the way to Congress and the White House, cybersecurity is top of mind. […]
Federal IT leaders want to see their agencies achieve enterprise-wide artificial intelligence (AI) proficiency in the next three to four years, according to a recent survey from MeriTalk underwritten by Dell Technologies and NVIDIA, “From Pilots to Proficiency: Operationalizing Federal AI.” […]
Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission executive vice president focused on digital issues, said today she’s “really encouraged” by recent tech-sector actions taken by President Biden to create greater competition, and is hopeful emerging technologies such as AI will create a bigger public sector market. […]
MeriTalk recently sat down with Matt Trudewind, senior technical marketing engineer on security at NetApp, to talk about all things ransomware. During the discussion, Matt dove into the growing threat of cyberattacks targeting Federal agencies, and walked through the critical steps needed in ransomware remediation. With this ever-increasing threat comes a need for a robust cybersecurity strategy with solutions and technology in place to address attacks both before – and after – they occur. Today, Matt shares his insights on the best ways to get to those goals. […]
Republican members of Congress have written separate letters to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Google CEO Sundar Pichai expressing concerns about the companies’ collection of data on students, among other issues. […]
Former Federal CIO Suzette Kent, a champion of Federal IT modernization, has joined the Public Sector Advisory Board at Rubrik, a cloud data management company. […]
For once, the biggest problem with engineering effective IT modernization may not boil down to a lack of money to tackle the job. That conclusion was a top-line takeaway from Republicans, Democrats, and private sector experts at a hearing of the House Government Operations Subcommittee hearing today on how the COVID-19 pandemic exposed state and local governments’ antiquated IT systems, and what governments should do about it now that pandemic conditions are easing in many areas. […]
Ransomware has rocketed to the top of the Biden administration’s agenda as cyberattacks launched from the soil of U.S. adversaries have started to bite into key critical infrastructure. […]
The SolarWinds breach, the Colonial Pipeline, the JBS meatpacking ransomware attacks, and most recently a ransomware attack on a House of Representative email vendor have Federal cybersecurity and IT leaders wondering what’s next. […]
While zero trust may be the latest buzzword in cybersecurity, the security principles behind a zero trust architecture aren’t new. Adoption across the Federal government has been slow as agencies deal with legacy systems, budget issues, competing priorities, and a shortage of security experts. […]
The mission must continue – and that means networks must be up and secure, no matter what. Now more than ever before, networks can provide visibility at every layer, so agencies can identify and respond to service interruptions immediately. Network-as-a-sensor capabilities enable this deep awareness. […]
The Alliance for Digital Innovation (ADI), a technology trade group that aims to help shape government innovation, is asking the Biden Administration to consider seven recommendations on Governmentwide Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) that it says will better achieve IT and cybersecurity priorities outlined in the administration’s Build Back Better agenda. […]
The Biden administration’s May Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity is the latest in a series of initiatives prioritizing national cybersecurity. Agencies are newly cognizant of the fragility of current security protocols, as demonstrated by recent breaches. […]
As Federal agencies transition to all-Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) systems, having solid security policies and determining how security teams can monitor the IPv6 transition is essential to fully implementing steps to complete the transition, IT industry officials said on June 16. […]
A secure software supply chain has become essential to fulfilling government missions. Massive cyberattacks like SolarWinds highlight the serious risks to the enterprise that insecure software can create. […]
The SolarWinds software supply chain hack – disclosed in December 2020 – represented a new scale of nation-state cyber aggression, with thousands of organizations compromised, including at least nine Federal agencies. And just last month, the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack further highlighted the national security risks created by cyber aggression. […]
Cloud security provider Zscaler and digital workflow service provider ServiceNow have announced new service integrations that the companies said will give joint customers improved visibility and data security for cloud data protection and security incident response. […]
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and General Services Administration (GSA) announced today that the 25 percent occupancy restriction for Federal offices has been lifted, and agencies will soon be able to increase the number of employees in their physical workplaces. […]
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has awarded a 12-year $725 million contract to AT&T to modernize the agency’s IP-based data communication platform and drive mission outcomes. […]
Major U.S. adversaries and competitors are enhancing and exercising their military, cyber, and other capabilities, raising the risks to the nation, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) reported in its 2021 Annual Threat Assessment. In its public report, ODNI highlighted China’s push for global power, as well as the activities of several other nations. […]
The National Institutes of Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC) has released the long-awaited request for proposals (RFP) for the $50 billion Chief Information Officer-Solutions and Partners 4 (CIO-SP4) IT services contract. […]
For government agencies and other organizations that face the daunting task of modernizing their IT systems to meet new and developing requirements, the greatest technical risk they face is maintaining the status quo. […]
If the COVID-19 pandemic brought any sort of silver lining, it might be that it pushed government to rapidly reimagine service delivery – putting efforts to digitize operations into overdrive. From expanding digital signatures to creating a virtual command center at the Small Business Administration to standing up and expanding telehealth resources at Health and Human Services and Veterans Affairs, examples of digital government response to the pandemic are prolific and varied. […]
With the United States and the rest of the world emerging from the shadow of pandemic to reengage with whatever “normal” life brings next, demands for how government should provide vital services to citizens – and the IT resources needed to improve delivery of them – have changed the service equation for good. […]
In a new report of nearly 30,000 cyber incidents, roughly 70 percent of public sector breaches were found to be the product of social engineering campaigns—relying mostly on phishing attacks. […]
Federal civilian and defense contract spending for artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) will reach approximately $3 billion this year, according to Bloomberg Government. […]
The Senate late on May 17 voted to proceed with debate on the Endless Frontier Act, a bill introduced in April with broad bipartisan sponsorship that would pour $100 billion of Federal spending over five years into research and development spending on ten hot-button tech areas. […]
Following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated mask guidance released last week, the White House said fully vaccinated Federal employees, onsite contractors, and visitors to Federal buildings no longer have to wear masks. […]