Power grids, water systems, transportation networks and other vital services are essential to communities but lack substantial cyber defenses. Their vulnerabilities make them tempting targets, whether for nation-states or cybercriminals. For instance, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a warning earlier this year that a Chinese state-sponsored hacking group already has footholds in multiple networks operated by...

As agencies face unprecedented data volumes and velocity, managing the speed and size of the data flow efficiently becomes a significant challenge, especially with the growing use of AI-based analytics. Over 80% of government employees use AI regularly, expanding the expectations and complexities in trusted data management. While it can provide the rich insights needed to solve problems, extracting necessary actionable data in context often pr...

The lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic and political uncertainty, increasing workplace changes, and new complexities are just some of the factors affecting workforce mental health and well-being. This poses a risk to mission readiness as well-being drives individual and organizational performance. In fact, recent Gallup Well-Being Research suggests that well-being is the most important factor for career performance over time...

State governments understand that utilizing IT effectively is the key to delivering excellent customer service. For instance, in Ohio the current strategic plan forthrightly states that the “use of State technology assets to increase the wellbeing of Ohioans and their health, property, security, livelihood, and prosperity is essential.” Measures include improving information security and privacy, building on cloud-smart infrastruct...

As all levels of government seek ways to harness the benefits of artificial intelligence ( AI ) and mitigate its potential risks, the need for an overall national strategy to foster innovation, competitiveness, and economic growth becomes clearer. At the federal level, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memo in March providing guidance for agencies to establish AI governance and risk management techniques while implementing inn...

Federal CIOs know the days of protecting a network perimeter are gone — firewalls were never designed to address edge computing, remote work, hybrid clouds, or multiple devices used by a single person. This is why all Federal agencies were directed by Executive Order 14028 and the follow-up Office of Management and Budget memo laying out a Zero Trust Strategy to implement a Zero Trust architecture by the end of September 2024. With that...

States’ voter registration systems and voter access have undergone a host of changes over the past five years, thanks in large part to the Covid-19 pandemic. Many states expanded vote-by-mail options, stepped up automatic voter registration programs, or both. Cities took action, as well – Los Angeles, for instance, has overhauled its voting system infrastructure, using open source, the cloud, and cybersecurity partnerships to updat...

The continuous evolution of technology presents us with a dynamic landscape filled with both promise and challenges. As the internet gained widespread adoption, it revolutionized various aspects of our lives, introducing innovations such as online shopping and real-time news updates, alongside issues like spam, phishing, and malware. Traditionally, government entities have been cautious in adopting new technologies, often due to regulatory con...

The cyber-attack surface has exploded to include more than just hardware and on premises devices. This can make implementing CDM and achieving success even more difficult-- one of the most common challenges has always been finding the time and resources to do so. So how are agency cyber leaders keeping up? While the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program is now a dozen years...

All the elements of the U.S. healthcare system are under siege by hackers. A recent article in Modern Healthcare reported that “[o]ver the past five years, there’s been a 256% increase in large breaches reported to [the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services] involving hacking and a 264% increase in ransomware.” Federal health agencies face the same risks – and private-sector attacks ripple through the agencies, a...