It is an unfortunate fact of life that the cyber threat landscape is constantly adapting, evolving, and expanding. There are more devices looking to connect to government systems, especially as workers seek to keep working from home or transition to splitting their time between remote and office sites. This has created a new vulnerability – the burnout of cybersecurity professionals. They are getting stretched thin, keeping up with new m...

Ransomware attacks on state and local agencies, healthcare systems, and educational institutions have grown exponentially over the past several years, in part because they’re seen as “soft targets” without the cybersecurity expertise to protect themselves well. For many organizations, the idea of purchasing cyber liability insurance may be a good idea, especially if they don’t have the resources to undertake extensive c...

When the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) was signed into law in November 2021, it allocated $1.2 trillion for infrastructure initiatives across the country. While the focus has been on large tranches of funding allocated for sweeping categories of infrastructure – roads and bridges, internet connectivity, water systems, etc. – less attention has been paid to the role of digital transformation within these groupings. F...

Federal, state, and local government grant programs support a wide range of critical services, ranging from economic development to disaster recovery to health and human services. Legacy grants management processes can be cumbersome and even subject to waste, fraud, and abuse. This is where technology can help, by simplifying and streamlining processes while strengthening internal controls and providing accurate, real-time visibility for stake...

States and localities have been affected by the wave of ransomware attacks over the past three years. From the small town of Webster Township, Mich. (population under 6,600) to state governments such as Louisiana, agencies large and small, at all levels, have had to scramble to rebuild their websites, databases, email systems and more following such attacks. It is a particular challenge for them due to older IT infrastructure, underfunded prog...

The federal government has been on a mission to update and modernize its IT systems and mothball legacy systems for more than a decade. From “Cloud First” to datacenter consolidation to zero trust, to name just a few – and more GAO reports than there’s room to list – both the Executive Branch and Congress have emphasized the importance of modernization. Two senators recently introduced a bill, the Legacy IT Reduct...

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed into law in November 2021, will unleash a flood of funding for a vast array of construction projects, including electric grid and energy improvements, roads and bridges, public transit, and water systems to name just a few. It is worth celebrating that so much will be repaired, replaced, or new-built. It also highlights a new opportunity to bring digitization to the construction industry, brin...

The Russian invasion of Ukraine started with cyber attacks shortly before tanks crossed the border. Data-wiping malware infected a number of government systems, while many official websites were downed by DDoS attacks. The problem is, malware released into the wild rarely stays in one place. While Ukrainian systems may have been the target, it did not take long for the malware to show up in Latvia and Lithuania. Times of uncertainty trigger he...

The pandemic of the last two years has changed the federal workplace. As employees begin a cautious return to their offices, the federal government’ Safer Federal Workforce Task Force is exploring how to balance reopening with the employees’ desire to keep some of the flexibility they discovered while working remotely. Key priorities such as hoteling, workplace/building services, visitor management, and the potential for understand...

When the pandemic drove millions of government employees out of their offices and into remote work two years ago, the need to overhaul legacy identity and access management (IAM) processes became apparent. President Biden’s Executive Order and National Security Memorandum on cybersecurity pushed this further by embedding Zero Trust architecture at their core, and January’s memorandum from the Office of Management and Budget (M-22-0...