The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) this week announced the launch of a new cybersecurity effort that will invest more than $50 million to create autonomous tools for IT teams to better defend hospital environments. […]
The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) issued its first-ever capstone report this week on trends in Federal agencies’ cybersecurity performance, and revealing that Feds strengthened their information security programs on average from fiscal year (FY) 2020 to FY2023. […]
A top Department of Energy (DoE) official presented a sobering portrait of the nation’s cyber readiness this week, saying that a lack of funding is preventing Federal agencies from fully adhering to the Biden administration’s cybersecurity executive order (EO). […]
Leaders of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection said on Wednesday that they are focused on harmonizing cybersecurity incident reporting regulations, especially when it comes to the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act (CIRCIA). […]
The chief of defense for the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) at the National Security Agency’s (NSA) Cybersecurity Collaboration Center (CCC) is focused on boosting the cybersecurity of small businesses within the DIB. […]
Top officials with prominent providers of technology services to the Federal government welcomed the Biden administration’s April 30 national security memorandum (NSM) that aims to better protect U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, and said that success of that effort will depend on robust collaboration with the private sector and renewed efforts to modernize IT systems and protect them with tried-and-true cybersecurity strategies. […]
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said Monday that recent inspections have revealed that more than 70 percent of water systems looked at since September 2023 are in violation of basic Safe Drinking Water Act requirements – thus causing “critical” cybersecurity vulnerabilities. […]
The House Oversight and Accountability Committee voted on May 15 to approve a bill that would require implementation of vulnerability disclosure policies by Federal contractors. The bill will now go to the full House of Representatives for further consideration. […]
Sixty-eight percent of Federal operational technology (OT) administrators and managers reported experiencing an OT cyber-incident in the past year, but only half felt confident they could detect or mitigate a threat today, according to new research from MeriTalk and Claroty. […]
Eric Goldstein, the executive assistant director for cybersecurity at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), is stepping down from his role next month. […]
UnitedHealth Group did not have basic cybersecurity requirements in place that would have protected it against the recent attack on its Change Healthcare subsidiary, according to White House Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Tech Anne Neuberger. […]
The head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said today that her team has plans to unveil its own international cyber strategy on the heels of the State Department’s release of its International Cyberspace and Digital Policy Strategy during the RSA Conference in San Francisco last week. […]
The U.S. Navy has awarded a contract worth $789 million to Accenture Federal Services to deliver defensive cyberspace operations analytics across Navy and Marine Corps networks. […]
Cyber diplomats from around the world voiced support for the U.S. State Department’s new international cybersecurity strategy unveiled during the RSA Conference in San Francisco this week. […]
A panel of cyber experts expressed their support this week for the most recent congressional effort to create national data privacy standards, but also voiced some criticisms of draft legislation released last month to push those proposed standards forward. […]
Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks is making changes to the Pentagon’s authority to operate (ATO) process, which many industry officials have argued hinders rapid technology and software innovation. […]
A total of 68 tech firms have signed onto the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Secure by Design pledge under which they will use best efforts over the next year to build better security into their products. […]
The White House’s Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) released a report today showing the United States’ cybersecurity posture has improved over the last year, driven by progress on the administration’s March 2023 National Cybersecurity Strategy (NCS). […]
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday evening unveiled the Biden administration’s new international cybersecurity strategy, which focuses on building out digital solidarity with global partners to protect against adversaries like China. […]
The Federal government’s top intelligence official sounded the alarm last week about a daunting increase in cyberattacks in the last year, with the majority targeted at U.S. entities. […]
Department of Transportation (DoT) Secretary Pete Buttigieg always says that safety is the DoT’s “North Star.” According to the department’s top cyber and IT official, safety is no longer possible without cybersecurity. […]
NASA’s spacecraft development programs lack mandatory cybersecurity controls for acquisition policies and standards, placing the technology at risk of cyberattacks, the Federal government’s top watchdog said this week. […]
Agencies are drowning in cyber domain data, and when it comes to enabling rapid response, some of their biggest challenges include quality and accessibility of data, Federal defense and intelligence officials said this week. […]
Pro-Russia hacktivists are targeting and compromising small-scale operational technology (OT) systems in North American and European critical infrastructure sectors – including water and wastewater systems (WWS), dams, energy, and food and agriculture – according to a joint fact sheet released today by leading Federal cyber agencies. […]
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Jen Easterly told lawmakers on April 30 that the Biden administration’s fiscal year 2025 request for CISA will help fund agency activities in three key areas, including to fight malign Chinese cyber actors. […]
In March, MeriTalk recognized the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at the annual FITARA Awards ceremony for winning in the “Most Improved” category. EPA’s Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) Tonya Manning told MeriTalk in an exclusive interview that the agency is keeping up the momentum by moving forward on several innovative cyber and IT projects – including AI implementation and supply chain cybersecurity. […]
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released its Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) 2.0 earlier this year, the first update since the original was released in 2014. The framework offers detailed guidance and recommendations on a wide range of cybersecurity topics, including the role of data backups in incident response and recovery plans. MeriTalk recently sat down with Travis Rosiek, public sector chief technology officer at Rubrik, to discuss the current threat landscape and the changes in the updated framework that help agencies and organizations plan for worst-case cyberattack scenarios. […]
New research from MeriTalk and RSA Conference reveals that while 80 percent of cybersecurity decision-makers say accelerating AI adoption is critical to their organization’s resilience against evolving threats, just 31 percent say their organization is using AI for cybersecurity today. […]
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) expects to roll out its Thunderdome program to 60 sites in fiscal year (FY) 2024 – thus far the agency has deployed the zero trust program to 23 sites, an agency spokesperson confirmed. […]
While a total ban on ransom payments to hackers remains “the ultimate goal” for cybersecurity experts, critical infrastructure organizations need stronger cybersecurity resilience before that happens, former acting National Cyber Director Kemba Walden told lawmakers on April 16. […]