Tag Archives: Arlington

Celebrating 20 Years of Cybersecurity and Preparing for 20 More

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For the past 20 years, October has come to signify more than pumpkins, ghosts, and candy. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) and the National Cybersecurity Alliance have led the annual effort to raise awareness among the general public about everyone's role in keeping our increasingly digital world more secure.

Cybersecurity Awareness Month provides a platform for a wide variety of government and private organizations to deliver education about good cyber hygiene and highlight the role everyday actions have on the security of the systems we depend on. Continue reading →

Staying Ahead of the Bad Guys: Investing in Cybersecurity

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Agencies are challenged to move more and more services online, become more transparent, and leverage new streams of data from the Internet of Things (IoT) for better decision making, all while securing the systems and the data they hold. If that is not challenging enough, cyber threats against all of these efforts are continually evolving. A series of strategies and ongoing guidance are helping agencies prioritize work and budget requests to make the most impactful investments in their cybersecurity infrastructure.

The National Cybersecurity Strategy (NCS) provides broad guidance to help position the United States to build a digital ecosystem that is more easily and inherently defensible, resilient, and aligned with its values. Efforts to do so are organized around five pillars:

1) Defend Critical Infrastructure

2) Disrupt and Dismantle Threat Actors

3) Shape Market Forces to Drive Security and Resilience

4) Invest in a Resilient Future

5) Forge International Partnerships to Pursue Shared Goals Continue reading →

Continuing Cloud Innovation

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Use of Cloud Computing is now standard practice across federal, state, and local government agencies, but that does not mean the technology is growing stale. Organizations are finding new ways to use the flexibility of cloud computing to deliver on their missions.

Radio in the Clouds

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is examining options for a "transition from hardware-based ground radio processing to cloud-based software applications." In practice, this would mean digitizing NOAA radio frequencies using devices that are software-driven, rather than traditional hardware-based devices, to support the agency's satellite programs' need for telemetry processing--the reading and transmission of data from a remote source. Continue reading →

Department Spotlight: Department of Homeland Security

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The mission of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may seem straightforward - protect the homeland - but in practice a lot goes into fulfilling that promise. DHS is an incredibly complex organization with a set of agencies that, while focused on the singular mission of keeping America safe, do so in incredibly diverse ways. The Department has laid out six core missions that all support the effort to secure the nation.

Recent efforts of DHS highlight their commitment to these goals. Continue reading →

AI Reporting for Duty

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming a key tool in the arsenal of the U.S. military. In 2022, the Department of Defense (DoD) launched the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) to become the "go-to place for talent and technical expertise." It was formed by merging several DoD offices to create a single, coordinated effort to advance AI technology and policy. Specifically, the CDAO is charged to:

  • Lead the Department's strategy and policy on data, analytics, and AI adoption, as well as govern and oversee efforts across the Department.
  • Empower the development of digital and AI-enabled solutions across the Department, while also selectively scaling proven solutions for enterprise and joint use cases.
  • Provide a sophisticated cadre of technical experts that serve as a de facto data and digital response force able to address urgent crises and emerging challenges with state-of-the-art digital solutions.

A key focus of the CDAO will be how to use AI to better coordinate forces in support of the DoD's Joint All-Domain Command Control (JADC2) efforts. Initial tactical goals include:

  • Review the Department's policy, strategy, data governance, analytics, and AI to create an integrated Data, Analytics, and AI strategy.
  • Provide the enterprise-level infrastructure and services that enable efforts to advance adoption of data, analytics, and AI.
  • Solve and scale enterprise and joint use cases in support of the National Defense Strategy and the Advancing Data and AI (ADA) initiative.

Continue reading →