Members of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee are launching an investigation into recent China-based cyber espionage campaigns that breached the email systems of Federal agencies, including the Department of State and the Department of Commerce. […]
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Department of State
The head of the State Department’s Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy said on April 26 that he has seen a “seismic shift” in public-private collaboration since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly 15 months ago. […]
As the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wane in many places around the world, Federal agency leaders are sorting through lessons learned from remote work that can be combined with more traditional ideas with the aim of boosting efficiency overall. […]
The U.S. Department of State (DoS) on August 29 imposed administrative debarment under the International Traffic and Arms Regulations (ITAR) upon three former U.S. private sector cybersecurity employees, according to a Federal Register notice. […]
The Department of State’s Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to six Russian hackers responsible for the 2017 NotPetya malware infection. […]
While cloud adoption by government agencies accelerated greatly during the pandemic, Federal experts agree that agencies need to create “purpose-built clouds,” as opposed to undertaking “lift and shift” cloud migrations, in order to achieve the best operational outcomes. […]
Step one in launching a robust DevSecOps (Development, Security, and Operations) effort is moving to the cloud, a State Department expert recommended July 8. […]
The Department of State is eyeing its Enterprise Vulnerability Scanning Solution (EVSS) for a “technical refresh” to ensure cybersecurity officials at the agency can keep pace with vulnerabilities on State Department networks. […]
The State Department’s Bureau of Information Resource Management (IRM) is seeking a new acquisition strategy and intends to award a multiple award indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract worth up to $4 billion. […]
Four lawmakers are criticizing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s approval of a new cybersecurity and emerging technologies bureau and calling for President-elect Joe Biden to hit pause when he is sworn in and takes office. […]
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo approved the establishment of the Bureau of Cyberspace Security and Emerging Technologies (CSET) within the Department of State on Thursday to lead diplomatic efforts to deflect cyberattacks from foreign countries. […]
Worldwide traveling restrictions have limited the Department of State’s progress for its Agency Priority Goal Action Plan of enhancing security monitoring solutions, the agency reported in a September update to its PMA goals. […]
Despite the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of State has managed to meet or be on track for the majority of its Q3 FY2020 goals set in its Agency Priority Goal Action Plan for IT Modernization as part of the President’s Management Agenda (PMA). […]
A Department of State program is offering up to $10 million to help identify bad actors, individuals who are working with or for a foreign government with the purpose of interfering with U.S. elections through certain cyber acts. […]
Amb. Robert Strayer, the Department of State’s point person for cyber and international communications policy, is leaving government to join the Information Technology Industry (ITI) Council, a global technology trade association. […]
The Department of State launched the Clean Network program on August 5 to promote the protection of American data and telecommunications infrastructure, specifically targeting China-based companies. […]
Three congressmen in positions of leadership sent a letter to the president today requesting a classified briefing on China’s cyber activity directed towards the United States and recommending sanctions against hackers. […]
The Department of State was already moving toward accelerated IT modernization in 2019, but the sudden onset of the coronavirus pandemic hastened those efforts and changed the department’s culture in the process, the agency’s CIO said this week. […]
The Department of State is seeking information from industry vendors on how they would implement a 5G Clean Path plan, which would guide 5G network traffic in and out of U.S. diplomatic facilities at home and abroad while ensuring it does not traverse untrustworthy equipment from vendors such as Huawei Technologies or ZTE Corporation. […]
On the same day that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a joint warning to COVID-19 research organizations about China’s cyber threat, the Cyberspace Solarium Commission got its hearing in the Senate. […]
The Department of State announced the establishment of a Center for Analytics (CfA) that will be the agency’s first official enterprise-level data and analytics hub. […]
The State Department is looking to develop IT professionals through the Foreign Affairs Information Technology (FAIT) Fellowship. […]
The State Department is looking to purchase phone hacking tools for Ghanaian police to help them investigate international crime. […]
The State Department has issued a request for information for systems that collect relevant online information to “analyze and track global developments in (near) real-time.” […]
The digital transformation in government IT is driving modernization but also expanding the attack surface Federal agencies have to protect. The traditional perimeter no longer exists. Today, there is no “inside” or “outside” the network when it comes to detecting, defending, and deterring cyber attacks. […]
A new report from the Departments of Commerce (DoC) and Homeland Security (DHS) suggests that the proliferation of botnets and the automated, distributed cyber attacks they generate will cause greater problems for Federal agencies absent a robust government response to the problem that includes a proper mix of funding, policies, and public-private collaboration. […]
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke frankly about the need IT modernization in the State Department last week, both referencing his personal experiences with the department’s servers and tying it into a larger need for reorganization in the department, but failing to lay out any concrete plan for the changes. […]
The State Department led a STEAM camp in Malawi in August to enhance high school girls’ skills in science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics. The State Department began the WiSci or Women in Science STEAM Camp in Rwanda in 2015 following the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. This year’s program was the third iteration of the WiSci camps. […]
Christopher Painter made the case for cyber diplomacy after stepping down as cyber coordinator for the State Department in July. Painter wrote a blog post saying that cyber issues continue to grow, which increases the need for global discussions on cybersecurity. Yet Politico reported that the State Department is considering getting rid of its cybersecurity department. […]
The United States and Japan on July 24 held a joint cyber dialogue, where the countries spoke about information sharing and strengthening international cybersecurity. […]