Cybersecurity

  • Office of Personnel Management officials told House Oversight and Government Reform Committee lawmakers that they didn\'t encrypt employee Social Security numbers because its systems couldn\'t handle the new technologies. Lawmakers pointed to previous breaches of contractors as a highly-probable way hackers got into OPM\'s system this time around.

    June 17, 2015
  • As the Office of Personnel Management begins notifying feds of a second cyber breach, Senior Correspondent Mike Causey warns that more bad news may be on the horizon.

    June 17, 2015
  • Adm. Paul F. Zukunft, Commandant of the Coast Guard, released a new cyber strategy for his command. He says that the weakest link an agency faces in protecting its IT systems is poor cyber hygiene by employees.

    June 16, 2015
  • The Office of Management and Budget tells agencies they have 30 days to secure their networks. It appears to be reacting to the second major cyber breach at the Office of Personnel Management. That second breach puts military and intelligence security clearance holders at risk. You can read the details about the second breach at Federal News Radio dot com. Dave McClure is chief strategist at the Veris Group, and former associate administrator at the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies at the General Services Administration. He\'s writing about a few ground rules your agency should think about for better cybersecurity. He tells In Depth with Francis Rose about the \"cut and paste\" approach to collecting threat information and what that means for agencies.

    June 16, 2015
  • Commentary: Embarrassment agency suffered from undetected hacks multiplies with its botched response.

    June 15, 2015
  • OPM gives agencies a stock email to send out offering few new details of a second data breach impacting background investigations.

    June 15, 2015
  • Setting the record straight on what exactly Stan Kaczmarczyk said on June 2 about the cloud cybersecurity effort known as Federal Risk Authorization and Management Program (FedRAMP). There have been several blogs and some articles that either didn\'t understand or misconstrued his comments, which has set some in the federal community off in the wrong direction.

    June 15, 2015
  • With all the focus on the OPM cyber breach, let\'s not overlook the simple fact that despite what some would call urgent and compelling needs, the government has rules and regulations that still need to be followed.

    June 15, 2015
  • The Maryland Democrat hosts his third town hall with federal employees since March answering questions on a series of hot-button issues.

    June 15, 2015
  • Federal CIO Tony Scott announced on Friday agencies have 30 days to report back to OMB and DHS on how they are addressing four specific areas of cybersecurity. OMB also is leading a broader effort to create a new Federal Civilian Cybersecurity Strategy.

    June 15, 2015
  • If it\'s really true that misery loves company, current and former members of the federal family must be jumping with joy, says Senior Correspondent Mike Causey.

    June 15, 2015
  • Hackers linked to China appear to have gained access to the sensitive background information submitted by intelligence and military personnel for security clearances, several U.S. officials said Friday, describing a second cyberbreach of federal records that could dramatically compound the potential damage.

    June 12, 2015
  • As many as 14 million current and former civilian employees may have had their personal information exposed to hackers, two sources told the Associated Press, a far higher figure than the 4 million the Obama administration initially disclosed.

    June 12, 2015
  • Over the next year, GSA will work with other agencies and industry will come up with a set of risk indicators and create access to multiple data sources for contracting officers to better determine and understand the supply chain risk of the technology they are buying.

    June 12, 2015
  • The OPM data breach that has affected millions of current and former federal employees wasn\'t about acquiring bank records or credit card information. Instead, signs point to cyber-espionage. They also reveal a need for agencies to improve their overall cybersecurity and teach employees how to protect themselves. Dan Waddell, director of government affairs at (ISC)2 joined Emily Kopp on the Federal Drive to discuss the magnitude of the breach.

    June 12, 2015