In the last two years, public sector ransomware attacks have exploded in both frequency and sophistication. These attacks pose an urgent national security risk to all levels of government and to critical institutions like schools and hospitals. The Institute for Security + Technology’s Ransomware Task Force issued a report earlier this year that identified almost 2,400 ransomware attacks against public sector agencies and organizations....

The Department of Defense (DoD) and Intelligence Community (IC) have entered a new age of warfighting, where battlefields exist in the digital realm as much as the physical one. This makes moving to the cloud a mission imperative, but the resulting multi-cloud and hybrid landscape can lead to immense operational complexity. Managing that complexity is critical to the success of IT modernization projects both currently underway and contemplated...

Government agencies and private sector companies alike are evaluating ways to embrace and standardize the changes brought about by the pandemic regarding where employees do their work. One often-overlooked aspect is employers’ responsibility for their employees’ well-being, whether they work at home or in an office. In a traditional on-premises environment, most enterprises have well-established policies and programs to keep emplo...

As the country shifts from pandemic response to pandemic recovery, the federal government is planning to preserve many of its flexible work practices initially triggered in 2020 by the sudden, urgent need to shelter in place while keeping agencies functioning. The past year has allowed organizations to test – at scale – massive cybersecurity initiatives to allow agency employees to continue working uninterrupted from homes far outs...

For more than a year, cybersecurity professionals in the government have been wrestling with a vastly more complicated threat landscape. Millions of employees suddenly working from home, often using their own devices, brought the full impact of “computing at the edge” to light. Meanwhile, high-profile cyber attacks, from the Solar Winds breach to ransomware threatening public safety and national security, have demonstrated the need...

For more than a year, cybersecurity professionals in the government have been wrestling with a vastly more complicated threat landscape. Millions of employees suddenly working from home, often using their own devices, brought the full impact of “computing at the edge” to light. Meanwhile, high-profile cyber attacks, from the Solar Winds breach to ransomware threatening public safety and national security, have demonstrated the need...

Customer and employee experience (CX) is becoming increasingly important to organizations across the government. Both customers and employees see and participate in technological advances promoted by the private sector, and want to see government make use of the same kinds of tools. A robust digital system to track data from citizens, partners and employees is critical in this modern era, as the federal government moves more and more resources...

In May, the White House issued its Executive Order on Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity. The EO states as policy, “Incremental improvements will not give us the security we need; instead, the Federal Government needs to make bold changes and significant investments in order to defend the vital institutions that underpin the American way of life. The Federal Government must bring to bear the full scope of its authorities and resources...

Ransomware is posing an increasingly urgent threat to U.S. safety and national security interests. In recent years, ransomware attacks have become much more common among State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial governments, as well as threatening critical infrastructure entities. The danger is so great that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) at the Department of Homeland Security has a web page that gathers recommended be...

In a world where technology provides the winning edge, no one values innovation more than the U.S. military. As a result, enabling best-in-class DevSecOps is an increasing priority across the services. The heart of DevSecOps is built on the teams of programmers, systems operators and cybersecurity professionals who collaborate, share responsibilities, and learn from failures and new ideas. Identifying the right skills for new hires and reskill...