Tag Archives: Government white papers

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 →

Who, What, Where, and How of Improving Broadband

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With so much of our activity and interaction being digital, the Internet is now a utility nearly as critical to daily functioning as heat or water. Inequitable access to broadband Internet access became quickly apparent during the pandemic lock down when kids lacked access to virtual school and adults were unable to complete work from their homes. Increasing broadband access is a key part of the bipartisan infrastructure law and is also supported by the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program. This funding is a huge step in rolling out broadband access nationwide, but there are many questions that need to be addressed to truly close the digital divide.

Where: Defining the Need

To effectively provide broadband, the government has to know where exactly it is needed. The Federal Communications Commission's broadband fabric map shows where fixed broadband access could be installed and has recently added more than one million new locations as well as removed over 1 million that were found to be mapped to structures such as garages and sheds. Being able to differentiate if an address is a residential or commercial building, a large property housing multiple families, or simply a storage shed is critical to ensuring that new broadband access is provided where it is actually needed. Agencies are working to combine this type of contextual data with the address mapping data to better plan broadband roll outs. Continue reading →

Meeting the Information Needs of Climate Change Weather Events

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Climate change is having an impact on the number of flooding events across the world. From stronger hurricanes to rising ocean levels to more intense rain and snow events, flooding is growing in its impact on public safety. This winter's "atmospheric rivers" dumped unprecedented snow and rain on the west coast. As we move into spring and summer, those record-breaking snowpacks will melt causing huge amounts of water to run into already full lakes and rivers. Agencies at the local, state, and federal level are working to adapt decades old processes to meet the modern flood threat.

Forecasting without data

Forecasting models depend on historical data, but when you have unprecedented precipitation levels, historical data has limited impact on preparation and response plans. This lack of data is a problem even in routine weather events. There is more data for urban than rural areas thanks to the placement of radar towers, other sensors and IoT technology. This leaves blank spots in forecasting incoming weather and storm impacts for rural communities. Continue reading →

Improving Service. Improving Trust.

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Improving customer service (or in the case of the government, citizen service) has been a focus of the Federal government for the past several administrations, most recently being named a key goal of the Biden-Harris President's Management Agenda (PMA). Despite this focus, citizen satisfaction with government service has remained low, but a 2022 report shows that the tide may be turning.

The American Customer Satisfaction Index's (ACSI) Federal Government Report 2022 showed that citizen satisfaction with Federal government services increased by 4.6 percent in 2022. Report authors attribute the increase to improved availability of digital services (spurred by the PMA and the Customer Service Executive Order) and major government initiatives including the distribution of free COVID-19 tests. Continue reading →

National Cybersecurity Strategy: Building a More Secure Future

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In March, the Biden Administration released the latest guidance aimed at improving the cybersecurity practices of Federal agencies. The National Cybersecurity Strategy builds on the Executive Order for Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity that makes cybersecurity a strategic focus of every agency. This latest guidance drills further into the actions needed to ensure that government systems and citizen data are protected against the ever-evolving threat landscape.

The goal of the strategy is to "rebalance the responsibility to defend cyberspace" and "realign incentives to favor long-term investments." To do this, the responsibility for cybersecurity must be shifted to the organizations that are most capable and best-positioned to reduce risks. It points out that, "a single person's momentary lapse in judgment, use of an outdated password, or errant click on a suspicious link should not have national security consequences." While security is the responsibility of everyone, small businesses, small localities, and individuals simply do not have the resources to support the security needed to protect systems and data. Instead, the guidance proposes new incentives to favor long-term investments in security, resilience, and new technologies. Continue reading →