The Federal CIO Council’s State of Federal Information Technology report stated that Federal agencies spent more than $2 billion on cloud computing services in Fiscal Year 2016. Rob Stein, vice president of Public Sector for NetApp, said that amount will increase this year. […]
Though lessons learned from the Office of Personnel Management data breach have resulted in many improvements in cybersecurity practices, the 2015 breach and subsequent cyber incidents led members at a House Oversight Committee hearing to question the pace of Federal data protection efforts. “Right now it is an uphill fight,” said Department of Defense CIO Terry Halvorsen. […]
Open data supporters have expressed trepidation over a new House bill that states Federal agencies will no longer be able to use geospatial information to create open databases on racial disparities and affordable housing. […]
Less than six months into her tenure as the Department of Veterans Affairs’ chief information security officer, Roopangi Kadakia has been tasked to lead the agency’s cloud efforts. Dominic Cussatt will take over as acting CISO, according to an internal agency memo obtained by MeriTalk. […]
A majority of Americans reportedly lack trust in the Federal government and other key institutions to protect their personal information, but many still fail to practice basic digital security in their personal lives, according to a recent study. […]
President Donald Trump was expected to issue an executive order on cybersecurity Jan. 31, but its release has been delayed. Although the details of the final executive order remain uncertain, Faisal Iqbal, chief technology officer of Citrix’s Public Sector, said this order may serve as the catalyst for a much-needed conversation on cybersecurity. […]
President Donald Trump and members of his national security team met with industry cybersecurity leaders today in what was billed as a “listening session” prior to the signing of an executive order that will introduce some fundamental changes to the government’s approach to national cybersecurity. […]
Companies that get the most financial benefits from cloud adoption all carry certain characteristics, a survey from CloudHealth Technologies found. […]
A draft cybersecurity executive order would mandate a review of the most critical U.S. cyber vulnerabilities, the principal cyber adversaries of the U.S., ways to incentivize cybersecurity measures in the private sector, and the capabilities of the DoD, DHS, and the NSA. […]
Almost one-fifth of Feds said they are outright not supporting data collaboration across teams, according to a new MeriTalk study. “Acing the Big Data Test,” created in partnership with the data services company Teradata, reveals how Federal agencies are managing big data and how they can improve information sharing practices. […]
A Federal Communications Commission report on Cybersecurity Risk Reduction tells the agency to consider making cybersecurity a focus of its mission. […]
The government officially stood up an interagency working group to develop best practices guidance aimed at helping agencies and departments move with greater speed and confidence to adopt cloud computing services. […]
A new mix of emerging technological threats has contributed to the decision by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists to move the Doomsday Clock 30 seconds closer to midnight. It is now 2½ minutes to midnight. […]
President Donald Trump released his Making Our Military Strong Again and America First Foreign Policy last week, which hint at potential changes to the Federal cybersecurity community. Trump’s administration has yet to include any more specific details about how the United States’ cyber capabilities will be used. […]
Can he really do that? The Federal records management regulations prohibit President Donald Trump from making climate change data disappear, despite the order to take down part of the website. […]
Though the U.S. government can still claim to be the top physical security player in the world, it can no longer claim leadership as the top cybersecurity player, according to retired Gen. Michael Hayden, who has served as the director of both the NSA and the CIA. […]
The White House Office of Management and Budget should drive structural reforms to make big data more accessible, according to Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., nominee for President Donald Trump’s director of OMB. […]
Oracle announced that it will open six new cloud startup accelerator programs for companies around the world. Oracle will begin programs in Bristol, England; Delhi–NCR, India; Mumbai, India; Paris; São Paulo, and Singapore, as well as Tel Aviv, which MeriTalk previously reported. […]
Though former Brig. Gen. Gregory Touhill served only about four months as the first Federal Chief Information Security Officer, he has some suggestions for improving cyber in the new administration. […]
The Department of Transportation on Thursday designated 10 new testing sites for autonomous vehicles. […]
The National Association of State Chief Information Officers is advocating for increased cybersecurity partnerships with the Federal government, according to its 2017 advocacy agenda. […]
One way for agencies to adhere to the new data center energy efficiency policy is to upgrade legacy IT systems, according to Rob Davies, ViON’s executive vice president of operations. […]
Federal Joint Analysis Reports should include stronger language on indicators of compromise, according to Cris Thomas, a network security strategist at Tenable. DHS and the FBI released a JAR on Dec. 29 that discusses the tools Russian intelligence officers used to compromise the networks and infrastructure associated with the recent U.S. presidential election. […]
IBM has been awarded a cloud solution contract by the U.S. Army potentially worth $62 million over five years, to build, manage, and operate a cloud for the Army’s Redstone Arsenal. […]
Oracle, a U.S.-based company, began a new program in Israel to promote startup cloud computing companies. Oracle will look for five companies later this year to participate in the program that includes six months of mentoring, new technology, a co-working space, access to Oracle’s customers and partners, and free Oracle Cloud credits. […]
MeriTalk conducted a Q&A with David Tishgart, director of product marketing at Cloudera, on cloud adoption. […]
With a new story map, the U.S. Census Bureau is trying to clarify what “rural” means. […]
The House of Representatives passed a bill that would put energy efficiency standards on Federal data centers. […]
Leo F. Scanlon, deputy chief information security officer for Health and Human Services and the agency’s senior cybersecurity adviser for the health care sector, was named the co-chair of the (ISC)2 U.S. Government Advisory Council. […]
Microsoft announced that its Azure and Office 365 cloud service became the first commercial cloud to be awarded Impact Level 5 DoD Provisional Authorization by the Defense Information Systems Agency, which allows the cloud to store the most sensitive, controlled, unclassified information. Microsoft also announced general availability of the service to all validated Department of Defense customers. […]