Tag Archives: Government

Celebrating 20 Years of Cybersecurity and Preparing for 20 More

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For the past 20 years, October has come to signify more than pumpkins, ghosts, and candy. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) and the National Cybersecurity Alliance have led the annual effort to raise awareness among the general public about everyone's role in keeping our increasingly digital world more secure.

Cybersecurity Awareness Month provides a platform for a wide variety of government and private organizations to deliver education about good cyber hygiene and highlight the role everyday actions have on the security of the systems we depend on. Continue reading →

How Blockchain Unlocks Government Challenges

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Blockchain is best known as the power behind digital currency, but the base technology has so many more applications. At the root of blockchain is its ability to record the transactions of assets. This visibility is key to the digital transformation of government services and operations.

Supply Chain

The most obvious use of blockchain may be in the movement of goods, providing a record of "ownership" of a specific asset and the path it has taken to get to its present location. The digital tracking removes the challenges of moving paperwork (either hard copy or electronic) between organizational boundaries, enabling a digital token to serve that same purpose.

Just because the ledger is "public" does not mean it is not secure. The U.S. Department of Defense is using blockchain to provide a single source of truth for tracking materials. It has proven to optimize processes and reduce costs, enhancing government readiness. Continue reading →

The Next Generation of Government

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While the feared "silver tsunami" of retirements never really transpired, the government workforce is worryingly aging. More than 70% of the federal workforce is age 40 or older. In the general workforce, only 54% are 40 or older. This skewed population is not only worrisome in terms of retirements interrupting continuity, but also introduces a huge risk in terms of diversity. Younger workers may lack experience, but they bring with them a perspective that is critical in designing services and solutions that meet the needs of citizens under 40. Younger workers may also have more up-to-date training in leading-edge technologies currently being deployed across government.

The public service call of government is a huge plus for younger workers who want a job where they can make a difference and find meaning. However, the outdated, lengthy hiring process and pay scales keep many from applying. These and other recognized barriers are being addressed across government to inject youth into the federal service workforce. Continue reading →

Ensuring Equity in AI

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Improving equity for citizens is a key goal of the Biden Administration. At the same time, agencies across government are adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions to better use data for a variety of tasks and decision making. Seeing the increasing role of AI in day-to-day operations, the government is looking for ways to ensure that the technology is used fairly and safely without impinging on the innovation being felt by AI adoption in government.

AI as an Administration Focus

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released a blueprint for a "Bill of Rights" to provide some guidelines for the development and use of AI in government. It details the roles various agencies need to play to ensure that AI tools align with privacy rights and civil liberties. Continue reading →

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 →