As technology evolves, so do the threats to its security. The remote work shift caused by the continuing pandemic has pressed security teams to reassess how they verify and allow access. Zero Trust is a strategy, not a product, which reimagines the way access is granted to users, to data and to applications. Devices, which used to be central to identity, now include personal computers and home internet connections, which are not government iss...

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...

Whether it's delivering better care for veterans, transforming internal business processes to make federal employees more effective and efficient, or improving the citizen experience on federal websites, digital government aims to enable better government. New tools and technologies are an essential part of these efforts, but the true transformation takes place in the analog world -- rethinking business processes, changing the workplace cultur...

The federal government has been working to update its policies, architectures and frameworks around digital identity for some time. OMB revised its Identity Credential and Access Management guide in May of 2019 and that National Institute for Standards and Technology has been working on an updated version of its guidance on security and privacy controls for information systems. Then, the pandemic hit, and all programs went into overdrive as ag...

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 government is fast approaching the midway point in its push for the fully electronic recordkeeping mandated by M-19-21. And while most agencies have made significant progress in identifying the myriad systems business processes that must change, translating those assessments into action remains a daunting challenge. This year's COVID-19 crisis, continued churn at the executive level and the uncertainty surrounding FY 2021 funding h...

If there was ever a question about the role of information technology in healthcare, the COVID-19 pandemic has answered it emphatically. Quickly analyzing large data sets and mapping the locations of cases around the world requires scale and power. Federal hospital systems (VA, Indian Health and Military Health System) are large users of the technology and the Department of Health and Human Services and its research centers fund research on a...

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...

Government agencies understand the pain of siloed data, especially as they continue to move data and programs to the cloud, modernize legacy systems, and automate manual processes to meet evolving citizen and employee demands. Connecting and accessing that data can be a challenge, but new technologies and modern integration platforms help accelerate transformation by connecting SaaS, enterprise applications, and other data sources, whether the...