Cybersecurity experts from Federal, state, and local governments agree that in wake of increased cyberattacks during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s increasingly important to protect healthcare data through an elevated cybersecurity posture. […]

What does it cost to open up a new top-level executive branch office to coordinate the government’s sprawling and ever-growing cybersecurity efforts? If you guessed $15 million, you’d be right in line with the thinking of the House Appropriations Committee, which released on June 23 the draft fiscal year 2022 Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) funding bill that includes $15 million to launch the new Office of the National Cyber Director. […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found in a new report that while the Department of Defense (DoD) has taken some risk management actions to better defend its inventory management systems against cyber threats, it should take additional steps to make them more secure. […]

With the focus turning to securing critical infrastructure and a backdrop of an increased number of cyberattacks, a survey of the cybersecurity in the water and waste management sector shows a number of facilities with incomplete cybersecurity programs, the Water Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) found in an April 2021 study. […]

Federal and private sector cybersecurity experts will be sharing their secrets to success on how Federal agencies can modernize their IT and cybersecurity posture at MeriTalk’s “Accelerating Success: How to Meet the Requirements of the Cybersecurity Executive Order” webinar on June 22 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. EDT. […]

The United States has some of the most significant cyber capabilities in the world, but Department of Defense (DoD) leaders today agreed that cybersecurity is an area where the United States is “vulnerable” and still has “a lot more work to do” when it comes to developing cyber capabilities. […]

Cybersecurity in general, and ransomware in specific, climbed high onto the ladder of major policy issues at both the weekend meeting of G-7 nations this weekend, and the NATO Summit that concluded on June 14. […]

The Department of Defense (DoD) has made progress in improving software and cybersecurity associated with its weapons systems, but the programs still struggle to implement and execute modern software development practices, according to a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. […]

Robin Carnahan, President Biden’s nominee for administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA), sailed through a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee confirmation hearing today while offering commitments to create a more user-friendly GSA and support digital infrastructure investments. […]

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said today he expects legislation will be soon filed in Congress to mandate cyber incident reporting to Federal authorities. […]

After a Senate committee hearing yesterday, Colonial Pipeline’s president and CEO was back in front of Congress today, appearing before the House Committee on Homeland Security for a hearing about last month’s ransomware attack. There he expressed a need from private industry for the Federal government to pressure the hosts of these ransomware actors. […]

The White House today released the first fruits of a February executive order that has Federal agencies looking at ways to improve supply chain security in several key critical infrastructure areas. […]

The Department of Treasury’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a request for information (RFI) seeking software cybersecurity tools that can work with an older version of programming language the agency uses, known as common business-oriented language, or COBOL.  […]

House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and several chairs of the panel’s key subcommittees today asked inspectors general (IGs) from ten Federal agencies for assessments of any cybersecurity vulnerabilities that were created or worsened by the use of telework systems during the coronavirus pandemic, and whether any such vulnerabilities have been mitigated. […]

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is seeking feedback on what to include in its Software Bill of Materials (SBOM), as directed by President Biden’s cybersecurity executive order. […]

Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Nancy Mace, R-S.C., introduced legislation on May 28 that would create a cybersecurity personnel rotation program in an effort to strengthen the United States’ Federal cyber workforce and infrastructure. […]

President Biden’s FY2022 budget document released today proposes a 14 percent increase from the estimated cybersecurity funding level for last year, to a total of $9.8 billion in Federal civilian cybersecurity funding. […]

President Biden’s FY2022 budget proposal published today envisions an eye-popping $6.01 trillion of Federal spending – up 36 percent from last year’s approved FY2021 budget – with a budget deficit of about $1.8 trillion. […]

President Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) nominees pledged their commitment to elevate the United States’ cybersecurity posture, in order to prevent future cyberattacks, during a May 27 Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs hearing. […]

The recent Colonial Pipeline hack has made more people aware of the threats that lurk in cyberspace, and Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, says it’s time for the government to develop a new relationship with the private sector on cybersecurity and take an all-of-society approach to protecting critical infrastructure. “The private sector has been very reluctant […]

Mark Munsell, deputy director of data and innovation at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the agency’s former CTO, is urging the Federal government to build cyber applications faster in order to out-compete adversaries, and to expand industry partnerships. […]

A new report from NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) shows the agency is exposed to a “higher-than-necessary risk from cyber threats,” but a new contract shows promise for NASA to secure its systems more effectively. […]

President Biden’s National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC) is preparing a report for the White House National Security Council (NSC) focused on “challenges facing the critical infrastructure workforce and the risks to national security posed by a lack of skilled workers,” and paying special attention to the cybersecurity workforce. […]

Following a string of high-profile cyber attacks against private sector and government organizations over the past several months, more than half of Americans surveyed by The Harris Poll believe further cybersecurity investments are essential to combat the threat, and that the Federal government, the military, and the private sector should share cyber threat and attack data to help in the fight. […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has outlined 28 priority open recommendations for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in a new report, which include items involving information technology and timely COVID-19 data collection. […]

Several House members expressed concern today over the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) approach to managing cyber risks and the agency’s cybersecurity strategies, while the agency’s chief information security officer countered that VA cyber programs are on par with those at work in other Federal agencies. “VA prides itself as being the nation’s largest integrated […]

Fifteen members of the House Committee on Homeland Security reintroduced the Pipeline Security Act on May 14 in an effort to secure pipelines from nefarious cybersecurity or terrorist attacks, in the wake of the recent ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline Company. […]

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced on May 13 the formation of a new Space Systems Critical Infrastructure Working Group, in an effort to minimize risks to space systems by bringing together space system critical infrastructure stakeholders. […]

Tech-sector reaction to the White House’s sweeping cybersecurity executive order issued May 12 came in largely positive today, with security technology makers particularly applauding the urgency of the administration’s plans, the enterprise-wide view that the order takes for improving security, and its actions to hasten the movement of Federal agencies to cloud services. […]

Expanding and investing in the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Pipeline Cybersecurity Initiative could address cybersecurity risks and prevent future cyberattacks on United States pipeline infrastructure, such as the recent Colonial Pipeline hack, according to Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y. […]