Reps. Bill Foster, D-Ill., John Katko, R-N.Y., Jim Langevin, D-R.I., and Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., have introduced legislation that aims to modernize the United States’ digital identity infrastructure and protect Americans from having their personal information stolen. […]

Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Steve Daines, R-Mont., have introduced a bill that would direct the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to study the risks and benefits of allowing private organizations to respond in kind to cyberattacks. […]

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., continues to hold Jen Easterly’s nomination to lead the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) until Vice President Kamala Harris visits the southern United States border, he reiterated yesterday. […]

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) organization is looking to upgrade its IT architecture by consolidating its IT systems into a single architecture on the ServiceNow platform. […]

In 2016, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began replacing its outdated biometric identity management system but needs to fully implement key IT acquisition best practices to fully implement the entire Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART) system by 2021, which is three years behind schedule due to technical challenges. […]

Congressman Ted W. Lieu, D-Ca., and Congressman Ken Calvert, R-Ca., introduced the Space Infrastructure Act on June 4. This bill directs the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to designate space systems, services, and technology as a critical infrastructure sector. […]

A newly issued Office of Inspector General (OIG) report shows that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was making only limited progress in implementing the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program in several years leading up to an audit completed in 2020, but has since taken action on several recommendations from the OIG that puts the agency in better position to benefit from CDM. […]

Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., reintroduced the K-12 Cybersecurity Act May 27 in an effort to strengthen the cybersecurity of school systems. This is the second time the two introduced the Act, having previously introduced similar legislation in 2019 in the last Congress. […]

President Biden’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 budget includes an estimated $58.439 billion in IT spending for Federal civilian agencies, and $500 million for the General Service Administration’s (GSA) Technology Modernization Fund (TMF), according to a budget breakdown the White House released today. […]

In light of the recent Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Transportation Security Administration (TSA) released a new directive requiring all critical pipeline owners and operators to report cyberattacks, DHS announced today. […]

Ransomware is being prioritized as the first of six “sprints” planned by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on a range of cyber threats due to the gravity of the problem, and because ransomware represents today’s threat, not tomorrow’s. […]

As Federal agencies look to modernize their cyber defenses and move to zero trust architecture, Trusted Internet Connection (TIC) 3.0 guidance will help push them along the path, with help from a zero trust use case that is in the pipeline, the TIC program manager said on April 29. […]

In a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, GAO’s Chris Currie, director of the Homeland Security and Justice team, flagged longstanding management and operational issues within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) that has led to “frequent leadership turnover” and “organizational weaknesses.” […]

The Department of Justice (DOJ) Justice Security Operations Center (JSOC) recently passed its  cybersecurity assessment provided by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity Service Provider (CSP) program, and through that process has become a certified CSP Center of Excellence. […]

With Federal government cloud spending on the rise, and four out of five Federal IT decision makers saying their agencies use multiple cloud platforms to satisfy different IT needs, cloud management capabilities are becoming more important than ever. […]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is seeking comments on an Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to allow DHS to assist executive branch agencies in collecting cybersecurity vulnerability information and post the information on their own agency websites. […]

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) should develop outcome-oriented performance measures and data collection measures to better position it to assess the effectiveness of its initiatives to diversify its security technology marketplace, and give small businesses better chances in the TSA marketplace, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. […]

Homeland Security (DHS) found that the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency has improved its technology on the U.S. southwest border, but still have challenges to tackle. […]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) needs to do a better job collecting necessary data from its Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Grant Program – which funds efforts to reduce and prevent extremist violence in the United States – the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report that found that DHS didn’t obtain data on the performance of grantees for 2017-2019. […]

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Feb. 22 announced several steps to help meet President Biden’s goal to advance cybersecurity in the Federal government, including increasing spending to improve cybersecurity in some areas. […]

Beth Cappello, acting CIO at the Department of the Homeland Security (DHS), explained agency IT progress on a range of fronts on Feb. 10 at a virtual conference organized by FCW, including ongoing modernization efforts, implementing “SecDevOps,” and enabling implementation of zero trust security concepts. […]

Strengthening cloud service capabilities over the past year has been an important step for Federal agencies to both deal with pandemic-era network service demands, and bolster cybersecurity by meeting requirements of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program while using cloud services. […]

The House Committee on Homeland Security today designated cybersecurity as a key priority for the committee in the 117th Congress, and specifically noted the Russian-backed hack of thousands of government and private sector networks via a compromise of SolarWinds Orion products.  […]

The Senate voted today 57 to 43 to approve the nomination of Alejandro Mayorkas to head the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). […]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Justice (DOJ) have implemented Fear Screening Pilot Programs for noncitizens, and while they’ve processed claims faster, the agencies need to process the data for these claims faster. […]

As data continues to drive the future of Federal IT, agency leaders looked ahead to their goals for 2021, while keeping data implementation and cybersecurity top of mind.  […]

President Joe Biden announced 23 acting agency heads after his inauguration, as his Cabinet nominees continue with their confirmation process. […]

The White House issued the National Maritime Cybersecurity Plan – a plan for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop and deploy a maritime cybersecurity workforce in order to monitor, protect and mitigate cyber threats to the maritime sector. […]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced its new Hacking for Homeland Security (H4HS) Program today, which aims to leverage university students to take new approaches and create unique solutions for agency-identified issues. […]

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is launching an inspector general (IG) investigation into Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) warrantless tracking of phones after an inquiry from Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii. […]