As more Federal agencies prioritize migration to the cloud, especially during this era of telework, it is essential to maintain consistency between data centers and provide the workforce with proper cybersecurity tools and strategies. […]
At the start of COVID-19, Federal IT leaders not only had to enable Federal telework overnight, but also accelerate their modernization efforts to minimize disruptions, deliver access to needed applications and data, and at the same time increase network and data security. […]
It’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and a good time to talk about how Federal agencies need to make network security a top priority. MeriTalk recently sat down with Jim Carnes of Ciena, and Zain Ahmed of Lumen Technologies, to discuss the importance of Federal government cybersecurity efforts – and take a deeper dive into the importance of a connected network, how partnerships garner the best results, and what to keep in mind while improving security efforts. […]
MeriTalk spoke with Felipe Fernandez, Director of Systems Engineering, Fortinet, to hear his thoughts on dynamic cloud security and the impact it’s having on our Federal government during telework. […]
A recurring theme in America’s response to the COVID pandemic is to work from home. While this is seen to help flatten the curve of COVID, it has created a new challenge to the cyber community. More now than ever, workers are relying on secure connections to continue working at full capacity. Both industry and Federal guidelines and tools have quickly adapted to help create safe cyber environments, but is it enough? […]
The three biggest linchpins for the Department of State’s successful implementation of telework across the enterprise each involve longer-term IT investments that the agency was able to make prior to the coronavirus pandemic, and each of those investments has paid big dividends in agency performance since March. […]
The General Services Administration (GSA) Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) wants small businesses to be aware of subcontracting opportunities that could lead to larger Federal contracts. […]
Given the Federal government’s rapid shift to telework since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the larger attack surface that working from home creates, there is a significantly greater need for government to take a fresh look at addressing the most fundamental cybersecurity challenges. […]
We sat down with Rob Davies, Executive Vice President of Operations, ViON; Rick Kryger, Deputy CIO, Operations & Acting Director, U.S. Department of Labor; and Sandy Krawchuk, Group Vice President, North America Public Sector,Cloud Infrastructure, Oracle Corporation to discuss how to best manage modernization requirements across the public sector and in Federal government including data center optimization, migrating applications to the cloud, and other key considerations for agencies. […]
The Department of Energy (DOE) is releasing its annual solicitation for the Technology Commercialization Fund, dedicated to commercializing innovative energy technologies as a part of the agency’s partnership with the private sector. […]
Federal agencies, such as the Small Business Administration and National Oceanic Atmospheric Association, are realizing the scalability and cost benefits of a multi-cloud environment as they navigate remote work and service delivery. But, for agencies both new to and well-versed in the cloud, Booz Allen Hamilton cloud leaders John Pisano and Jimmy Pham are advising that governance from the get-go is a key consideration for making a multi-cloud environment more effective. […]
Public sector security professionals have had an extremely busy six months juggling pandemic-driven security needs alongside the perennial objective of improving Federal agency security for the longer haul. […]
MeriTalk recently spoke with Bobby McLernon, Vice President of Federal Sales, Axonius, on the importance of cybersecurity asset management, current asset visibility challenges, and lessons learned from public-private sector collaboration. […]
Several members of the House and Senate are lining up their support for GovTech4Biden – a group of government technology leaders that is raising money to support the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in November. […]
The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), a non-profit association representing U.S. state and territorial educational technology leaders, announced that Christine Fox will serve as the organization’s interim executive director. Fox assumes the role following the passing of Candice Dodson. Fox has been with SETDA since 2004 and most recently served as deputy executive director. The organization’s board of directors is currently searching for a permanent executive director. […]
The Department of Defense (DoD) said today it has reaffirmed its decision to award the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud contract to Microsoft, following a “comprehensive re-evaluation” of proposals. […]
The zero trust security model is hardly new – it was already a much-discussed evolutionary concept long before the coronavirus pandemic slammed into the nation and U.S. government operations in early March. The talk on zero trust was not if, but when. But as with many other imperatives in the Federal IT arena since then, […]
In March, as the COVID-19 threat grew and Federal agencies sprinted to enable telework for nearly all Federal employees, they grappled with numerous challenges. Among them were procuring large numbers of devices, ensuring information security, expanding network capacity, training employees, shifting to new communications methods, and securing funding for all of the above. […]
Reflecting on the last nearly six months of the coronavirus pandemic – and his two decades in Federal IT experience – Booz Allen Hamilton’s Vice President of Digital Transformation Dan Tucker is looking ahead to more government investments in open data architectures, cloud services, and human-centric digital products as Feds adapt to the shifting telework and service delivery landscape. […]
A group of government tech leaders that have joined together to support Joe Biden for President has kicked off its initial policy discussions, and is picking up steam on fundraising with its third event planned for August 26 headlined by Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., chairman of the House Government Operations Subcommittee. Earlier GovTech4Biden fundraisers featured Tony Scott, former Federal CIO, and Chris DeRusha, Biden Campaign Chief Information Security Officer. […]
Lower costs, reduced risks, and shorter time to achieving mission values are goals that are all within reach for government agencies that choose to work with enterprise data cloud provider Cloudera for support in open-source technical operations. […]
With a growing cyber workforce gap, Federal agencies need to get creative as they work to shore up their cyber defenses. What skillsets are most valuable for incoming cyber workers? And how can Federal agencies find talent in surprising places and nurture the talent they already have? […]
TechNet, the national, bipartisan network of innovation economy CEOs and senior executives, announced two new hires. The organization has named Carl Holshouser as senior vice president for operations and strategic initiatives, and Chris Gilrein as its new executive director for Massachusetts and the Northeast. […]
There are over half a million cybersecurity job openings across the United States, including more than 30,000 cybersecurity positions left unfilled in the public sector. The problem is far from new, and while much concern about the gap has been expressed by members of Congress, the shortfall remains. What will it take to not only fill the need, but to meet the challenge in a way that is fair and inclusive? […]
While the Coronavirus pandemic has exposed fundamental weaknesses across government systems, the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) Program has continued to support Federal agencies’ efforts to securely manage data and networks. […]
Officials with several leading Federal IT service providers applauded government agency grades on last week’s FITARA Scorecard, but also suggested a range of grading category adjustments for the scorecard to better track where agency performance should be going in the future. […]
While 82 percent of Federal IT managers surveyed by MeriTalk agree that the amount of streaming data their agency manages is on the rise, 59 percent also said that their agency is struggling to secure its data consistently between on-premises and cloud. […]
Time to join the CIO Community in getting social to thank Suzette Kent for her Most Valuable Player performance as our Federal CIO – and especially her leadership in the coronavirus pandemic. Take a look at this tribute video – and share it on your social channels. […]
Setting the stage for the nation’s coronavirus pandemic recovery begs new ways of thinking and collaboration. That’s why MeriTalk, ACT-IAC, and the Partnership for Public Service are joining forces on a project to deliver a set of operating and policy recommendations to promote stronger and more resilient Federal government operations to power the recovery. […]
The General Services Administration (GSA) announced the completion of the second phase of its Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) consolidation and has now begun its third and final phase. […]