Tag Archives: PUBLIC SECTOR

If Data is the New Currency, How Are We “Spending” It?

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The government is at no loss for data. And, over the last decade, there has been a concerted effort to use that data more efficiently to improve decision making and service to the citizen. Chief Data Officers are in place across government to shepherd the changes in process and technology needed to achieve the goals set forth in the Federal Data Strategy.

Meeting the Plan to Plan

Department-level data strategies have been borne out of the federal guidance to mature data governance and infrastructure and publish those plans. In fact, the report "CDO Insights: 2021 Survey Results On the Maturation of Data Governance in U.S. Federal Agencies," found that 75 percent of respondents said they had started or completed five of the six action items named in the Federal Data Strategy 2020 Action Plan. The report found that constituting a data governance body (completed by 75%) was the least challenging action. Getting these bodies in place means that beyond department-level plans, some agencies are moving to making plans for critical subsets of data much like the State Department did for geospatial data.

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Cloud Is No Longer the Exception, but the Rule

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Remote work, necessitated by the pandemic, accelerated many agencies' move to cloud computing. With remote and dispersed teams here to stay, cloud is a critical, if not primary, infrastructure for a number of organizations. With this wide reliance on cloud, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has been releasing Trusted Internet Connections 3.0 Use Cases, which give federal agencies guidance on applying network and multi-boundary security for remote users.

Similarly, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) recently combined its Cloud Computing Program Office (CCPO) with its services directorate and ecosystem. This move, creating the Hosting and Compute Center (HaCC), recognizes the long-term reality of cloud and the role it plays in delivering services and powering everyday work for the agency. The HaCC will be "responsible for providing the warfighter with critical hosting and compute functions using modern data center and cloud capabilities." This functionality supports a number of Defense Department initiatives including Joint All Domain Command and Control. Continue reading →

2021 Cybersecurity Awareness Month Challenges Everyone to #BeCyberSmart

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Each October, the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency and the National Cybersecurity Alliance lead the cybersecurity community in an educational campaign around the impact of cybersecurity breaches and best practices to prevent them. Cybersecurity Awareness Month was created to raise awareness about the importance of cybersecurity among individual citizens and companies alike. As exemplified by the theme, "Do Your Part. #BeCyberSmart," the campaign serves to remind us that everyone has a role in ensuring the security of data and systems.

Events, educational materials, videos, blogs, and more will be produced throughout the month by a variety of government entities, non-profits, and commercial organizations to illustrate this shared responsibility. To organize the vast amounts of information, the month is divided into themed weeks with a focus on the threat of phishing and a push to increase interest in cybersecurity careers:

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Monitoring the Readiness for In-Person Events

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In May 2021, shortly after the CDC revised their guidance saying that vaccinated individuals did not need to wear masks, we surveyed our members to get a pulse on their comfort level attending in-person events. At that time, we found that 75% of respondents would be comfortable attending an in-person event in 2021. Size or location (need to travel) did not seem to affect their willingness to attend. Things were looking up for in-person gatherings while enthusiasm for online events also remained high.

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Coordination is Key to CDO Success

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Chief Data Officers (CDOs) are one of the newer positions in government, but their role is quickly becoming one of the most critical. A CDO is charged with overseeing data-related functions, including data management, ensuring data quality, and creating data strategy. For government agencies, this requires close coordination with the Federal Data Strategy and the DoD Data Strategy.

Both of these documents define the specific roles and responsibilities of data officers and provide a framework for working with and securing data. Of course, each agency has unique requirements and missions, leaving the CDO to work out how to apply this guidance and standards to their organization.

Agencies are meeting these guidelines and integrating CDOs in different ways. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently announced a department-level CDO office to better integrate data into its operations and those of other agencies. The need for this level of coordination was underscored as DHS launched a department-wide COVID-19 vaccination campaign in partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs health centers. DHS needed to identify, contact and manage responses from workers, which meant collecting and reconciling many different datasets from across the department.

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