The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is requesting information from the private sector on how it might improve the way social media data is collected and archived from previous presidential administrations, according to a request for information (RFI) posted on the SAM.gov website. […]

The House of Representatives approved a bill July 19 that aims to improve electric power grid infrastructure cybersecurity by using public-private partnerships. The bill was passed by voice vote under suspension of the rules. […]

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Transportation Security Administration (TSA) today issued a second Security Directive aimed at securing critical pipelines that transport hazardous liquids and natural gas from cyber intrusions, in response to recent cybersecurity threats against U.S. pipeline systems. […]

A senior Biden administration official said on July 18 that an important mandate under the administration’s Cybersecurity Executive Order – deployment of multifactor authentication and encryption technologies across Federal civilian networks – could be “fully deployed within six months.” […]

Without a secure, reliable, and trustworthy digital identity system for people, entities, and things, the increasingly digital new reality is vulnerable to attacks, threatening individual safety and national security. […]

The Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) is partnering with Microsoft to use cloud-based tools and artificial intelligence (AI) to increase the scalability of ERDC’s coastal storm modeling system, ERDC announced July 14. […]

The Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Office of Information and Technology is seeking a contractor to maintain an Authority to Operate (ATO) for the Social Security Numbers Reduction (SSNR) Tool in the VA Enterprise Cloud (VAEC) environment. […]

The U.S. Coast Guard expanded its telework capabilities to protect employees during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but the service branch needs to ensure it is auditing data derived from Coast Guard staff self-reporting telework use and health statuses. […]

The Biden administration took formal steps today to pin the Microsoft Exchange software supply chain hack disclosed earlier this year on people connected with the Chinese government’s Ministry of State Security (MSS).  […]

Major General Ryan Heritage was named commander of the United States Marine Corps (USMC) Cyberspace Command July 7, the unit announced. He will report directly to Gen. Paul Nakasone, who heads up the U.S. Cyber Command. […]

Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y., ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, called for increased funding for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), saying CISA “needs to be a $5 billion agency in the next five years.” […]

Bicameral, bipartisan legislation introduced by four lawmakers this week aims to create international security standards with American allies for emerging technology research such as AI and quantum science. […]

Senate-approved legislation that would boost Federal funding for U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturing and provide the National Science Foundation (NSF) with another $52 billion over five years for research initiatives received strong endorsements from private sector witnesses at a July 15 Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing. […]

While teleworking during the pandemic, women have had to balance work and home responsibilities while still attempting to achieve corporate goals and managing teams and customer needs. Women in the Federal sector discussed the positives and negatives of telework, and the urgency to have women rejoin the workforce on July 14 during a Women in Leadership Forum hosted by ACT-IAC. […]

As artificial intelligence (AI) adoption continues to grow across the Federal government, officials said on July 15 it’s important to share lessons learned across the government, and spoke about the importance of operational and organization efficiencies in the AI adoption process. […]

The U.S. State Department said on July 15 it is offering up to $10 million in reward money for information that leads Federal authorities to anyone who is conducting cyberattacks against U.S. critical infrastructure at the behest of foreign governments. […]

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on July 14 voted to approve the Civilian Cyber Security Reserve Act which would establish a pilot program to create a civilian reserve of cybersecurity experts that could be deployed to the Federal government as “surge capacity” in the event of significant security incidents. […]

The Department of Justice (DoJ) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have launched a one-stop shop at StopRansomware.gov for individuals, businesses, and organizations to help combat the increasing trend of ransomware attacks, the DoJ announced today. […]

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is finishing up a 90-day sprint geared toward further cloud service adoption, and the agency’s acting CIO advised other organizations during MeriTalk’s virtual Cloud Cafe event on July 15 to toss out the on-prem rulebook when planning for their own cloud transitions. […]

With many more people teleworking in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cyberattack surfaces changed and expanded, and as many worked from home with Internet of Things (IoT) devices abandoned at the office, threat actors took advantage. Part of the fallout from those realities, according to two Zscaler studies, was that malware attacks on IoT devices connected to corporate networks increased by 700 percent year-over-year in 2020, compared to the firm’s 2019 study. […]

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Denis McDonough has called the recent VA Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) reports highlighting the Electronic Health Records Modernization (EHRM) program missteps “extremely disappointing,” but told members of Congress on July 14 that he is proposing a new approach for the program he hopes will get VA’s efforts “back on track.” […]

The Department of Defense’s (DoD) efforts to defend the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure in the U.S. require a stronger implementation strategy in its collaboration efforts with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), according to an audit by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded in a new report that Federal law enforcement agencies need to have better awareness of the facial recognition systems that are used by their employees so they can better assess risks involving privacy and accuracy. […]

Federal cyber leaders are working to keep mission-critical data secure and available to employees working from home, in the office, and in the field at the tactical edge. Despite progress and intense focus, a boom in cybersecurity breaches is commanding national attention and highlighting the need for IT and security modernization throughout the Federal government. […]

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee today approved two bills that aim to improve the cybersecurity of K-12 education institutions and to train Federal employees to better protect supply chains. […]

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an emergency directive on July 13 ordering Federal agencies to disable the Microsoft Windows Print Spooler service, after discovering a vulnerability that allows attackers to remotely take over systems and enable adversaries to compromise the entire identity infrastructure of an agency. […]

The Department of Defense is making investments in artificial intelligence (AI) a “top priority” and will invest around $1.5 billion in AI projects at the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) over the next five years, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said July 13. […]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) successfully adapted to a flexible telework schedule for employees during the COVID-19 pandemic and plans to retain hybrid training and development opportunities for employees beyond the public health crisis, according to a DHS official. […]

A Defense Department official charged with helping to figure out the Pentagon’s next set of moves on large-scale cloud contracts said today that the Pentagon hopes to award new cloud service contracts as early as the Spring of 2022. […]

The House Appropriations Committee spent July 13 marking up the fiscal year 2022 (FY2022) budgets for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Defense (DoD). […]