With aging IT infrastructure, outdated job classification system and a greying government workforce, agency executive and human capital officers face a trifecta of challenges in the years ahead. Soaring demand for cybersecurity experts and data scientists are just two examples of the newer professional specialists that the government is struggling to hire. With the rise of vaccinated workers, questions have arisen about the reopening of federa...

Time and time again, data breaches demonstrate the pitfalls of relying on detection to identify malicious activities taking place on the network, rather than prevention of the threat in the first place. The emphasis—post event—has been what the agency did wrong. But, what if we took a different approach that allowed agencies to share what has been working for them? Both before and after. Some tips and lessons from folks who have be...

Although it got an encouraging $1 billion funding shot in the arm from the American Rescue Plan Act in early 2020, the effort to modernize and transform an aging infrastructure remains a complicated task that takes coordination, executive buy-in and detailed security and data strategies to make it work. The $1 billion set aside for the Technology Modernization Fund in the ARP smooths some modernization budgeting issues for agencies, which have...

The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), the government-wide plan to secure cloud products and services, is almost a decade old. It is still evolving, however. Early in 2021, the House of Representative passed a bill that would have codified a number of its provisions into law, standardizing its processes for agencies to on-ramp cloud computing technologies. To date, the Senate has not acted on the bill. At the same tim...

As the global pandemic continues and countries wait for a vaccine, estimates about when federal employees will return to their offices in force range from Summer 2021 to Never. Many organizations have discovered the advantages of telework and now plan on expanding its use, even when there is not a snowstorm or health crisis. Although some jobs require on-site personnel, the Office of Personnel Management said that 42% of federal employees are...

In October of 2020, then-Defense Secretary Esper defined defense readiness as "our military’s ability to answer the nation’s call, and to fight and win, anytime, anywhere. … The question we must answer is this: if called upon to fight tonight, are we ready?" Ensuring that answer is "yes" demands change in every corner of the Department of Defense, and especially in the technology that will power tomorrow's military. Cybersec...

The Defense Information Systems Agency is an essential hub for DOD IT, with a staff of more than 9,000 and an annual budget approaching $10 billion. With new leadership coming in for both DISA and the government as a whole, 2021 looks to be a busy year of executing key existing initiatives and setting new priorities for the agency. In this editorial roundtable webcast, FCW will explore DISA’s roadmap for milCloud 2.0, Defense Enclave Ser...

DOD put into effect at the end of Nov. 2020 a new DFARS rule that requires Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) for all DOD contractors. Although anticipated for some time, questions remain about the certification process and the scope. The rule requires that contractors register on the Supplier Performance Risk System, produce and maintain a System Security Plan and a Plan of Actions and Milestones. In addition, each company is r...

Most government agencies have made the journey to cloud since the Cloud First and Cloud Smart strategies came from OMB starting in 2010. Many organizations have more than one cloud. The challenge becomes blending the different types of cloud and service models to provide access to needed data, while at the same time protecting a much enlarged attack surface created by the large number of workers who are accessing the data remotely. If there is...

The Federal Data Strategy's action plan was reworked in response to the COVID-19 crisis, while state and local governments are simultaneously expanding health data initiatives and looking for more cost-effective data solutions. Add in the growing importance of data-intensive cyber threat detection and the broad potential of AI and automation, and it becomes clear: Agencies' data challenges are evolving rapidly, and a solid data strategy is mis...