Agencies have spent years working on cybersecurity, from implementing continuous diagnostics and mitigation to installing identity authentication and management tools to moving to a Zero Trust architecture. The challenge now is how to build on what is already in place to contend with a new threat landscape, including AI being used by hostile interests to circumvent current security measures. It is not about “ripping and replacing...

As the cyber threat landscape grows increasingly complex, pressure grows on agencies to implement Zero Trust architecture to protect their users, their data, and their systems. Among the obstacles: the need to modernize legacy systems, how to manage identity, and keeping up with both evolving threats and evolving compliance standards The administration is working on the preparation and release of ‘Zero Trust 2.0,’ with a focus on e...

Government agencies are under increasing pressure to deliver high-quality services while optimizing resources. It has been a challenge as they wrestle with budget constraints and manpower limitations, but that emphasizes the urgency of producing better outcomes. By leveraging digital front door strategies and data-driven modernization, agencies can significantly enhance their service delivery capabilities. This approach enables the creation of...

There have been plenty of articles warning of the cybersecurity risks posed by artificial intelligence (AI), whether it is bad actors – from hostile nation-states to cyber criminals – or new attack vectors caused by AI implementations. At the same time, numerous other reports point out that AI can strengthen cybersecurity. For agencies looking to incorporate AI into their systems, cybersecurity is a great place to focus. AI tools c...

The federal government is moving quickly to embrace the use of AI tools across agencies. The purpose of such tools is to improve delivery of public services, enhance decision-making, and strengthen national security. To use these tools responsibly, agencies must understand their infrastructure, data governance, and workforce availability policies, and how they intersect with AI requirements and operations. Additionally, there are ongoing conve...

Since 2018 there have been more than 4,300 ransomware attacks on businesses, educational institutions, healthcare facilities, and federal/state/local agencies. While the majority have targeted businesses, the three remaining groups all tie to governmental responsibilities, especially at the state and local levels. This means that ransomware attacks continue to pose an existential threat to state governments, disrupting essential services, comp...

The impact of the federal government shutdown on agencies’ IT programs could last for a long time. In the short term, the lack of exposure management means IT systems have become vulnerable due to movement within teams, systems coming off and online, and falling behind on software updates and patches, for instance. Meanwhile, hostile parties are increasing their cyber attacks, raising the risk of major breaches. Other effects, such as mo...

As the federal government begins to implement plans to build AI data centers and generation plants to support its current and anticipated demands for AI capabilities, agencies continue to pursue infrastructure modernization to streamline delivery of services. These two large-scale efforts go hand-in-hand: improving infrastructure supports mission resilience, Zero Trust security, and energy optimization, while purpose-designed AI data centers c...

As IT and security deployments migrate to the cloud, security gaps in air-gapped systems can be created unless attention focuses on threats such as data transfer from external storage media – for example, USB devices. Paradoxically, many agencies continue to maintain critical systems and data on air-gapped servers or on systems running end-of-life operating systems. The U.S. Department of War maintains critical air-gapped systems even as...

The original version of Moore’s law declared that the capacity of an integrated circuit – the backbone of IT – doubles every two years. For decision-makers in the era of artificial intelligence, this could be revised to observe that new versions of AI proliferate at an accelerated rate. Because AI is so new, yet already has so many offshoots, agencies are wrestling with which type of AI to implement – agentic or generat...