The Federal government is in the midst of a sweeping IT modernization, replacing outdated legacy systems and moving rapidly to the cloud and other cutting-edge technologies such as robotic process automation. Modernization presents a mix of innovation and opportunity, bringing enhanced overall security and heightened employee productivity while also posing new risks. […]

At U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a $15 million Federal investment has helped move an antiquated, COBOL-based payment system to the cloud, allowing the nation’s second-largest revenue-collecting Federal agency to efficiently take in more than $90 billion in annual duties, taxes, and fees. […]

U.S., U.K., and Australian cybersecurity agencies are warning that hackers associated with Iran have exploited vulnerabilities in Fortinet and Microsoft products to carry out attacks. Officials urged in a recent advisory that critical infrastructure organizations patch these vulnerabilities to mitigate against possible attacks. […]

At the highest levels of the Federal government and the private sector, officials have recognized that cybersecurity is a national security issue. A series of policy and technical documents and high-level meetings this year have reinforced this notion. Chief among them is President Biden’s cybersecurity executive order (EO), which outlines a wide-ranging and ambitious series of actions Federal agencies must take to better secure government operations. MeriTalk recently talked with Jim Richberg, field chief information security officer at cybersecurity firm Fortinet, who is uniquely qualified to assess the potential impact of the cybersecurity EO and the actions that agencies must take to realize its promise. Prior to joining Fortinet, Richberg was the senior federal executive focused on cyber intelligence within the U.S. intelligence community. He helped build the discipline of cyber threat intelligence analysis and is an innovator in measuring cyber performance, risk, and return on investment.  […]

Following a joint cybersecurity advisory warning of potential vulnerabilities in Fortinet’s cybersecurity operating system from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency (CISA), the company is urging customers to update their software to include the latest patches. […]

The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are warning about advanced persistent threat (APT) actors exploiting a Fortinet vulnerability to gain access to government and other networks, according to an April 2 joint advisory. […]

As more Federal agencies prioritize migration to the cloud, especially during this era of telework, it is essential to maintain consistency between data centers and provide the workforce with proper cybersecurity tools and strategies. […]

MeriTalk spoke with Felipe Fernandez, Director of Systems Engineering, Fortinet, to hear his thoughts on dynamic cloud security and the impact it’s having on our Federal government during telework. […]

Machine-learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), and blockchain technologies are crucial ingredients necessary to creating the next generation of healthcare data security and functionality, a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) official said today at an event presented by Fortinet. […]

The general election in 2016 was a watershed moment for Federal, state, and local election officials. […]

Many Federal agencies still struggle with overcoming security concerns when transitioning to the cloud, according to a MeriTalk report, To Cloud or Not to Cloud? That Isn’t the Question. Thirty-five percent of Federal IT leaders said that the security of their existing private cloud environments is excellent, compared to 21 percent for public cloud security. […]

The investigation into the August hack of the National Security Agency’s cybersecurity tools is looking into a theory that a former NSA employee left the information on a remote server that the Russian hackers found, according to Reuters. […]