What Happened This Week – Ep. 53

The Department of Defense (DoD) has announced that David Cattler will take over as the next director of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA), which handles most of the Federal government’s personnel security vetting tasks. His first day on the job will be March 24. […]

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) La Monte Yarborough said on Monday that upgrading outdated IT systems and bolstering security efforts is crucial to improving public trust and user experience (UX). […]

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Information and Technology (OIT) is planning for a major IT contract that will support systems used by its Cargo Systems Program Directorate (CSPD). […]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is pushing agencies to implement security measures to protect their cloud computing services against cyberattacks, following the July hack of Federal agency cloud-based email accounts by China-based threat actors. […]

cloud
IRS

The IRS’s Enterprise Case Management (ECM) System failed to meet all established cloud security requirements identified in reviews stretching back to 2021, according to a recent report from the Treasury Department’s Inspector General (IG). […]

checklist, report

The American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) has published new outlines with best practice ideas for Federal agencies when they are developing and structuring IT planning documents across a range of priorities. […]

Ann Dunkin

As Federal agencies and the private sector improve their uses of mobile technology, they must also improve security along with it, according to Ann Dunkin, chief information officer (CIO) at the Department of Energy (DoE). […]

Data experts Eileen Vidrine, chief data officer (CDO) at the U.S. Air Force, and Jeremy Wilson, multi-factor authentication statewide program manager for the State of Texas, gathered on Oct. 19 at the Dell Technologies North America Forum to share their insights on data protection measures and the importance of keeping data secure. […]

Veterans Affairs

A new report from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) puts veterans’ sensitive information and facility security at risk by not following requirements about documenting personal identity verification (PIV) cards returned by contract personnel. […]

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. […]

TSA

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is looking to improve its airport screening technology – and its use of machine learning within that technology – in an effort to make the process easier and faster for travelers while enhancing security effectiveness. […]

security
security

The advent of new leadership in the White House and the still-unfolding impact of the Russia-backed hack of thousands of government and private-sector networks via SolarWinds Orion products are leading to a fresh consideration of options to improve Federal cybersecurity, panelists said on Feb. 9 at the Resiliency Colloquium event organized by MeriTalk, ACT-IAC, and the Partnership for Public Service. […]

cloud
border

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) lacked the IT systems necessary to accurately track migrant families separated under the agency’s Zero Tolerance Policy, according to a DHS Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report released on Nov. 25. […]

FDIC

A spotty risk management strategy, along with poor security control assessment procedures, are undermining the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)’s ability to identify and detect network security threats, according to an FDIC Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report released on Oct. 23. […]

healthcare cyber-min

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office Inspector General (OIG) discovered in a July 31 report that a VA healthcare facility in Long Beach, California, failed to adhere to VA and Veterans Health Administration (VHA) privacy and security policies in the midst of a patient electronic health record (EHR) complication. […]

IRS

Security is the great white whale of Federal IT–even as we make progress, it is just out of reach. Late last month, Zscaler announced it had prioritized rigorous security standards by achieving the Service Organization Control (SOC) 2, Type II Certification. […]

The National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) recently published a basic model aimed at helping researchers better understand the Internet of Things (IoT). […]

The Office of Personnel Management is relieved of the duties of conducting security clearances. Those duties instead go to a brand new agency, the National Background Investigations Bureau. […]

A new Federal agency is in the works to take over the security clearance process from the Office of Personnel Management, according to former intelligence officials with knowledge of the discussions. Word of the plan to create a new National Investigative Service Agency comes as security officials this week are scheduled to brief leaders of […]

Should email and other personal electronic data be protected by the Fourth Amendment in the same way that a written letter or other personal effects are protected? This and other questions like it were debated today before the House Judiciary Committee. The hearing comes as HR 699, the Email Privacy Act, approaches a House vote. […]

Army

The market for virtual reality headsets—like the popular gaming system known as Oculus Rift, or the many headsets that are now shipping with consumer drones—is poised for rapid growth starting this holiday season. In fact, Juniper Research estimates that global sales of VR headsets will hit 3 million next year and as much as 30 […]

MeriTalk caught up with Department of Homeland Security Chief Privacy Officer Karen Neuman Nov. 19 at MeriTalk’s Big Data Brainstorm in Washington, D.C. Listen to the podcast. […]

With cybersecurity threats mushrooming across the Federal government, members of a House committee said this week that the Education Department is failing to protect the data of millions of Americans. DoEd’s systems have been penetrated many times by the inspector general, and the department has failed to correct many recommendations from the IG and General […]

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