Page 8 - Continuous Diagnostics News Today

By Brent Hansen Feb 22, 2021 Agencies likely have the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program on their minds as a result of the Office of Management and Budget’s November memo requiring they share cyber risk data to a new federal dashboard. Specifically, the memo notes, agencies are required to “report the status of their information security programs to OMB,” with inspectors general conducting “annual independent assessments of those programs.” What should an agency’s �...

Attacks from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea will likely continue “until the leadership has decided that it cannot tolerate further behavior," former CISA Director Chris Krebs told the House Homeland Security Committee.

Jan 25, 2021 With the expansion of telework, agencies face a broader threat landscape. Teams can no longer rely on network-centric security, and federal leaders cannot manage the cybersecurity posture of personal infrastructures off-site. What’s more, bad actors are having more success gaining access to user credentials than ever before, with their algorithms outperforming humans 1,000 to one. When bad actors leverage inappropriate or unnecessary access, the damage is done before teams can de...

Biden poised to pick Obama-era security veterans for 3 top cyber roles The leading candidates for the cyber positions have been described as well prepared to confront an ongoing cyber espionage crisis and other digital security challenges. President Joe Biden is expected to pick three Obama administration veterans for key roles on the National Security Council and at DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Updated: Link Copied President Joe Biden i...

To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: Last week, President Biden released a fact sheet summarizing a proposed $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package, which promises to have a broad reaching impact on U.S. businesses. TAKEAWAYS The proposal includes a $15 billion grant program to more than one million of the hardest hit small businesses, reimbursement for employee sick leave, and $35 billion to generate low-interest loans and venture capital to help entrepreneurs. The pro...

To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: On January 19, 2021 the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee (HSGAC) held a hearing on the nomination of Alejandro N. Mayorkas to be the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (the Department or DHS).    Public-Private Partnerships Will Continue to be of Crucial Importance for DHS and CISA. In his opening statement, Mayorkas underscored the critical importance of public-private partnerships to the DHS ...

By Justin Katz   Alejandro Mayorkas, the Biden administrations candidate to lead the Department of Homeland Securit, shown at an agency event in 2016. (Photo credit: Petty Officer 3rd Class Lora Ratliff / U.S. Coast Guard) Alejandro Mayorkas, at his Senate confirmation hearing to lead the Department of Homeland Security, said he will review the federal governments two major cybersecurity programs in the wake of the SolarWinds breach. Mayorkas said he would conduct "a thorough review of Einstei...

The number of federal agencies hit by the SolarWinds Orion breach will likely surpass last week’s White House’s tally of 10 affected agencies, according to William Evanina, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center.

How U.S. agencies trust in untested software opened the door to hackers POLITICO 12/19/2020 © Michael Bocchieri/Getty Images Network cables plugged into a server. The massive monthslong hack of agencies across the U.S. government succeeded, in part, because no one was looking in the right place. The federal government conducts only cursory security inspections of the software it buys from private companies for a wide range of activities, from managing databases to operating internal chat a...

States’ Cybersecurity Opportunities in a New Presidential Administration While the Trump White House has done some good things, the president-elect has shown genuine interest in the issue, and more federal resources are becoming available. Mark Weatherford, Cybersecurity Columnist   |   December 15, 2020   |  Opinion I was recently asked how state governments could more effectively leverage the federal government to improve their own cybe...