Tag: Federal

November 29, 2017

Americans depend on more than 4,500 federal websites to access critical government services and information, but a report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation finds of 91 percent of the most popular agency websites are failing to perform well […]

November 23, 2017

Intelligence officials are still far behind in perfecting a system to continuously evaluate security clearance holders by scanning public records rather than relying on rigorous re-clearance investigations every five or 10 years, a congressional watchdog found. In October 2016, the […]

November 2, 2017

The federal government has big plans for a public-private cybersecurity information exchange, if only it can get buy-in from the private sector. Acting federal Chief Information Security Officer Grant Schneider told attendees at a Nov. 1 information sharing conference in […]

October 25, 2017

At the end of August, reviews began on the organizational plans submitted by Federal cybersecurity stakeholders, in response to the May 11, 2017 Executive Order for Strengthening the Cybersecurity of Federal Networks and Critical Infrastructure. A critical action within EO […]

October 17, 2017

The Department of Homeland Security is requiring agencies to use new email and web security guidelines that address man-in-the-middle attacks. A binding operational directive from DHS gives federal agencies 90 days to implement a pair of tools, Domain-based Message Authentication […]

October 9, 2017

An Inspector General’s audit found that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s protocols for responding to a data breach aren’t being followed, even as the agency has faced dozens of security incidents in the past two years. The audit stemmed from […]

October 3, 2017

The Office of Personnel Management has a new CIO. Former Maryland CIO David Garcia will replace David DeVries, who resigned in September. OPM deputy CIO Rob Leahy has served in an interim role since Sept. 2. OPM confirmed the news […]

October 2, 2017

Three days after a congressional panel probed delays and overspending by the Department of Homeland Security on financial management systems modernization, the agency is out with a near-final request for proposals for plans for the system. The solicitation that went […]

October 2, 2017

CIOs of federal agencies that fail to fully comply with the standards laid out in the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act can expect to be dragged into more “boring hearings,” according to Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas). Hurd, who chairs […]

September 26, 2017

Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) said he wants federal CIOs to get up to speed on the modernization tools provided in the recently passed Modernizing Government Technology Act as quickly as possible — but worries that that the slow pace of […]

September 26, 2017

The top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee wants answers on White House officials’ reported use of private email accounts to conduct official business. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) wrote a letter Sept. 25 to senior adviser to […]

September 21, 2017

The Modernizing Government Technology Act passed the Senate on Sept 18 as part of the annual defense bill, and is expected to become law before the end of the year, once the language is hammered out. What does this mean […]

August 31, 2017

When citizens prefer interacting with cable television providers and credit card companies over dealing directly with government agencies, we know we have a problem. Government tech failures are legion, from such high profile meltdowns as the rollout of Healthcare.gov to […]

August 17, 2017

The Heritage Foundation, an influential conservative think tank, is calling for increased reliance on automation and the potential creation of a “contractor cloud” offering streamlined access to private sector labor as part of its broader strategy for reorganizing the federal […]

August 11, 2017

There’s no question that federal agencies have expanding options today for sophisticated threat analytics, automated tools and security solutions to protect the growing complexity of their IT environments. However, it’s equally true that as the attack surface grows and malicious […]

August 2, 2017

A just-introduced Senate bill would set new standards for government IT vendors. The Internet of Things Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2017 aims to bolster the security of government acquired IoT devices. This legislation could be a step towards reducing botnets, […]

August 2, 2017

The Homeland Security Department has not proven a need for the 15,500 agents and officers President Trump requested in a January executive order, according to a new report, and would require more than 1.2 million applicants to fill the positions […]

July 31, 2017

Last Thursday, the United States overwhelmingly passed a new round of sanctions against Russia, taking the executive actions made by then president Barack Obama in December 2016 and putting them into law. Congress also wrote its legislation such that the […]

July 31, 2017

With limited resources and an increasing workload, agency officials hope that technology can help automate practices to make the government more transparent. First, however, they need to improve the practices themselves. The process surrounding Freedom of Information Act requests has […]

July 31, 2017

Federal agencies must now use the contract on the General Services Administration’s Acquisition Gateway for all package shipping, according to a July 27 Office of Management and Budget memo. The new policy applies to all small packages sent via global […]