Adm. Michael Rogers, head of the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command, said that the section of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that allows the NSA to collect information on foreign nationals is “instrumental” in providing Congress with intelligence. […]

The Federal Aviation Administration has not established any rules for commercial companies that collect and retain personal information, according to Earl Lawrence, director of the FAA’s Office of Unmanned Aircraft Systems. […]

census

The decennial census earned a place on the Government Accountability Office’s 2017 High Risk List, due to its information technology-oriented agenda, according to Robert Goldenkoff, director of strategic issues at GAO. […]

Though lessons learned from the Office of Personnel Management data breach have resulted in many improvements in cybersecurity practices, the 2015 breach and subsequent cyber incidents led members at a House Oversight Committee hearing to question the pace of Federal data protection efforts. “Right now it is an uphill fight,” said Department of Defense CIO Terry Halvorsen. […]

Retired Marine Gen. John Kelly stressed the importance of working together to combat cyber warriors at his confirmation hearing for Secretary of Homeland Security. Kelly said that incumbent Secretary of Defense Ash Carter was “on to something” when he reached out to Silicon Valley companies for best cybersecurity practices. […]

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. (Photo: INSA)

In a hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Director Of National Intelligence James Clapper testified that the unclassified version of the executive-mandated report on Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election is scheduled to be released early next week and will “push the envelope” to provide the public with as much information as possible. […]

Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., sent a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan on Friday, calling for a Select Committee on Cybersecurity that would be able to cross the jurisdictional lines of more than 80 committees and subcommittees in order to “investigate pressing cybersecurity matters.” […]

The U.S. Border Patrol apprehends 1 percent to 2 percent of the drugs smugglers move across the Mexican border into the United States, said Deputy Chief Carla Provost. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., thinks drones could help Border Patrol monitor the flow of these substances. […]

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., spearheaded a letter signed by 15 members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee to request that the committee hold a hearing on the attempts by foreign powers to influence the U.S. presidential election. […]

In determining whether agency CIOs have learned their lesson after the 2015 OPM data breach, Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, commended NASA CIO Renee Wynn on her “unprecedented” move to refuse an end-user service provider the authority to operate due to a lack of knowledge about the potential risks of that service. […]

AR

In the “Wild West” of augmented reality applications, the U.S. government has to balance the concerns of helping to protect consumer privacy and security while also leaving room for companies to freely innovate, according to witnesses at a Senate Energy and Commerce hearing. […]

In light of the recent distributed denial of service attack that prevented access to multiple U.S. websites as well as the increasing cybersecurity threat posed by Internet of Things devices, the Federal government “needs a new agency” to deal with cybersecurity, according to Bruce Schneier of Harvard University. […]

A group of U.S. senators wrote a letter to Marissa Mayer, chief executive officer of Yahoo, on Tuesday about the hack on 500 million accounts in 2014. They ask what went wrong and how Yahoo plans to protect consumer data in the future. […]

The Food and Drug Administration lacks sufficient security controls, jeopardizing the confidentiality and availability of its data and systems, according to a recent GAO report. […]

The House and Senate Intelligence Committees each passed restrictions on the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board that would restrict its funding, give it jurisdiction only over the privacy of people in the United States, and force it to report to the agencies that it’s overseeing. […]

Due to its relatively new and complex nature, there is no straightforward method for categorizing a cyberattack as a digital act of war, according to witnesses at a House Oversight Committee hearing. […]

One of the major problems facing the cybersecurity of the nation’s critical infrastructure is a lack of personnel, according to witnesses at both the House Homeland Security Committee and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Both committees held hearings on the security of critical infrastructure in the U.S. […]

Small businesses are prime targets for today’s hackers, according to witnesses testifying at the House Small Business Committee. “According to a recent report by Verizon Enterprise, over 70 percent of attacks occurred in businesses with fewer than 100 employees,” said Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio. […]

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