Cybersecurity

  • The Council of Inspectors General analyzed 77 commercial cloud contracts across 19 civilian agencies and found most failed to implement federal guidance and best practices. Auditors found these shortcomings could put data and systems at a greater risk to cyber attack or data theft.

    October 13, 2014
  • Michael Daniel, the White House cyber coordinator, said the administration believes getting cyber legislation through Congress on small pieces is more likely to be successful than in one comprehensive bill. Legislation to update FISMA, to improve information sharing and to expand the workforce all have garnered bi-partisan support.

    October 10, 2014
  • Andy Ozment, assistant secretary of the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications in DHS, said the CDM, Einstein and Enhance Cybersecurity Services programs are on the upswing in terms of impact and number of users. Ozment said there are no delays with CDM, and the Einstein intrusion detection and prevention software covers 25 percent of all federal employees.

    October 09, 2014
  • In fiscal 2015 FISMA guidance, OMB is trying to close a big hole exposed during the government's reaction to the Heartbleed vulnerability. The White House is giving DHS the authority to regularly conduct proactive scans of certain civilian agency networks. DHS made it clear to Congress earlier this year the delay in getting permission from agencies to scan their networks cost them days in response time during Heartbleed.

    October 03, 2014
  • Pentagon wants to discourage other countries' cyber attacks by convincing them that that DoD will respond, and that the attacks will ultimately prove unsuccessful. Step one is conveying those messages more forcefully.

    October 03, 2014
  • The goal of the scorecard or dashboard would be to give government leaders a better sense of just how secure agency networks are from hackers. As the 11th annual National Cybersecurity Awareness Month begins, DHS is doing much less education about why securing computers and networks is important.

    October 03, 2014
  • The Army is the latest federal organization to lay out a career path for its cybersecurity leaders. Career Field 17 will offer soldiers that career path. Advocates of professionalizing the cyber workforce believe that would feed talent pipelines with the people agencies need to succeed. Lt. Col. Sean Kern is cyberspace operations officer, and a graduate student at the Joint Advanced Warfighting School at Joint Forces Staff College at the National Defense University. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he said the main cyber problem right now is a people problem.

    October 01, 2014
  • The leader of the Army's new Cyber Center of Excellence says his job is not merely to build the cyber workforce, but to integrate that up-and-coming capability with the Army's existing signals and intelligence disciplines.

    September 26, 2014
  • Cyber operations is about the only area of the DoD budget that hasn't been subject to cuts. But the new leader of the Army's Cyber Center of Excellence says that doesn't mean the Army can grow its newest military discipline in isolation. Federal News Radio DoD reporter Jared Serbu has the details.

    September 25, 2014
  • The Office of Personnel Management has a list of 25 different conferences that comply with federal training regulations. Dan Waddell is director of government affairs for the cybersecurity non-profit (ISC)2. OPM just added their fourth annual Security Congress event to its list of approved conferences. On In Depth with Francis Rose, Waddell explained how the event got on the list.

    September 25, 2014
  • Nov. 15 is the deadline for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to patch up the cybersecurity holes in the Healthcare.gov website. The Government Accountability Office offered 22 technical recommendations to the agency last week. Those problems appear just as the website nears its first birthday. Raj Sharma is co-founder and CEO of the Censeo Consulting Group. On the In Depth with Francis Rose Industry Chatter segment, he shared some ways to predict, and fix, longstanding problems with large federal IT projects like Healthcare.gov.

    September 25, 2014
  • Allen Harper, vice president and chief hacker for Tangible Security will discuss how his company is helping federal agencies with their cybersecurity challenges. September 23, 2014

    September 23, 2014
  • The Army has activated a new brigade, a cyber brigade, its first ever. The brigade is part of the Army's Cyber Command. The brigade will be divided into teams consisting of both soldiers and civilians. Their primary mission will be to conduct defensive cyberspace operations. Army Col. Donald Bray is commander of the Cyber Protection Brigade in Fort Gordon, Georgia. He joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to discuss the brigade's structure and mission.

    September 23, 2014
  • The FBI will channel more people and resources into its Pittsburgh office. It's a reward for the cybersecurity team that's credited for catching five Chinese military leaders stealing trade secrets, and a Russian-based cyber crime ring that stole about $100 million from banks around the world. Michael McKeown is supervisory special agent for the Associate Division Counsel, part of the FBI Cyber Initiative and Resource Fusion Unit based in Pittsburgh. On In Depth with Francis Rose, he explained the cybersecurity effort that earned the extra resources.

    September 19, 2014