In today’s edition of “This Week in Government Tech Media,” we look at trending coverage in the following areas:
FITARA Scores Soar!
Let’s start with some good news on the cybersecurity front this week. Late this week, John Curran of MeriTalk reported that federal agency grades “were up sharply and nearly across the board in the latest edition of the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) Scorecard issued today by Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va.” The scorecard measures agencies’ progress across a range of IT-related categories. We expect more coverage of this news as the story develops.
Cyber Updates
Several government tech media outlets reported on new guidance from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) designed to help federal government civilian agencies reduce their cybersecurity risks.
- David DiMolfetta of Nextgov/FCW wrote that the guidance covers asset management, vulnerability management, defensible architecture, supply chain resilience and incident detection and response.
- Cate Burgan at MeriTalk noted that CISA expects the guidance to align collective operational defense capabilities and drive down cybersecurity risks for more than 100 civilian agencies.
- Arthur McMiller of ExecutiveGov also covered the news.
In other cybersecurity policy-related news, Justin Doubleday of Federal News Network shared the story on new recommendations for the next administration from the Cyberspace Solarium Commission advisory body, including establishing a national cyber director at the White House; passing a national cyber incident reporting law; and creating a Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy at the State Department.
- Doubleday also had the news on new Department of Defense (DOD) training and tools to ensure program managers know how to mark sensitive information that will trigger Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) requirements.
Election Security
We saw several encouraging reports this week in which federal leaders expressed confidence in the security of our upcoming election.
- Burgan covered a speech by CISA Director Jen Easterly who said the U.S. “election infrastructure has never been more secure, and the election stakeholder community has never been more prepared.”
- Derek B. Johnson of CyberScoop interviewed Minnesota’s top election official Steve Simon, who said, “We learned so much from 2020 and we’re in a better position now to meet the moment, an even better position than 2020.” (To hear Johnson’s own candid thoughts about election security, listen to the latest edition of W2 Communications’ Inside the Media Minds podcast.)
- The election security news wasn’t all optimistic. Libeth Perez of MeriTalk covered a Senate hearing in which executives from Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta sounded the alarm about U.S. adversaries employing AI-enabled misinformation to subvert the election.
- Johnson reported in CyberScoop on Iranian hackers’ theft of Trump campaign information, and DiMolfetta reported in Nextgov/FCW on a Russian disinformation targeting the Harris campaign.
Passport Renewals Now Online
To wrap up this week’s update with more good news on government customer experience, Natalie Alms from Nextgov/FCW wrote that the State Department has initiated a system that will allow millions of Americans to renew their passports online instead of by mail.
Thanks for reading. Come back next week for more updates on trending news in the world of government technology.