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This Week in Government Tech Media – September 28, 2026 

By Brad Bass /

The trending news last week in government tech media outlets revolved around cybersecurity, with news about a group’s claim of hacking the FBI and various cyber-related actions taken by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). We’ve got links and descriptions of many of those articles in today’s roundup below:

The FBI Hacked?

It was a tough week for federal government cybersecurity, with news of a notorious hacker group infiltrating an FBI system, as well as rogue AI agents inappropriately accessing federal government data. Some details follow:

  • Grace Dille of MeriTalk reported last week that the FBI is investigating a claimed compromise of its FBIJobs.gov recruiting portal and a potential impact to employee personally identifiable information (PII), but it has not yet determined where the alleged breach occurred. 
  • Data stolen in the alleged intrusion into FBI systems is believed to contain personal information on hundreds of FBI intelligence analysts and other employees involved in clandestine intelligence-gathering and surveillance, David DiMolfetta wrote in Nextgov/FCW.
  • Hackers claim they stole more than 2 terabytes of data that includes detailed personal information about thousands of FBI employees and job applicants, according to a report by Sam Sabin in Axios. 
  • Ross Kelly of cyber trade publication IT Pro noted that hacker group ShinyHunters has threatened to publish compromised FBI data “after an advisory rubbed the group the wrong way.”
  • Mathew Schwartz noted in GovInfoSecurity that the group said the hack was in retaliation for the bureau disseminating incorrect information about its cybercrime activities and tactics. 
  • Matt Kapko of CyberScoop quoted observers who expressed concern about the hack, one of whom said, “It’s a roadmap for every s—y country, and drug cartel, and insane person to locate exactly who in the FBI they have a grievance with, and show up at their home or attack a person close to them.”  
  • If the alleged FBI hack wasn’t bad enough, OpenAI acknowledged that its AI agents accessed Census Bureau data using developer keys found online and reposted public Securities and Exchange Commission information on another website, DiMolfetta reported in Nextgov/FCW.

A CISA Sampler

Coverage of CISA last week was all over the map, with articles focused on a variety of the agency’s mission areas, from election security to vulnerability reporting and more. Check out the details of those articles below:

  • DiMolfetta wrote that CISA pledged to strengthen threat sharing and coordination with election officials ahead of the midterms, following administration cuts that state officials say weakened those relationships and their access to federal cybersecurity expertise. 
  • To that end, CISA published its 2026 Election Infrastructure Security Plan last week, which describes the cyber and physical threats facing election systems and the free services CISA offers to election officials and other partners, according to coverage by Eduard Kovacs in cyber trade publication SecurityWeek. 
  • The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General reported last week that most federal agencies missed the deadline for adopting cloud security requirements issued by CISA, which lacks the authority to enforce its governmentwide cyber directives, according to a piece by Justin Doubleday in Federal News Network. 
  • Covering the same report, Tim Starks of CyberScoop noted that it said nine out of 10 federal civilian executive branch agencies failed to meet last summer’s deadline to implement CISA’s cloud security directives.
  • Emma Woollacott reported in IT Pro that CISA stated its move comes as AI-enabled technologies are creating new pressures across the software lifecycle, while rising vulnerability volumes are placing significant strain on cyber defenders. 
  • CISA also published a short whitepaper last, laying out four “dimensions of quality” it will pursue to improve the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) program it oversees, which catalogs and characterizes newly discovered software vulnerabilities, Shaun Waterman wrote in GovInfoSecurity. 
  • In his article on the paper, Starks noted that it outlines the components of a “Quality Era” for the program, widely used as the definitive clearinghouse for data on vulnerabilities in software and other products, even as the number of CVEs surges. 
  • Laura French of trade pub SC Media reported that CISA stated that the CVE program has reached an “inflection point” and that the framework is designed to support the program’s reliability and success as it transitions from the past decade’s “Growth Era” to its modern-day “Quality Era.” 
  • CISA is also preparing new guidance for critical infrastructure operators that focuses on recovering systems after a cyber incident and urging operators to test whether they can isolate systems and sustain essential services during disruptions, according to an article by Dille in MeriTalk. 
  • In CISA-related news from Capitol Hill, Starks reported that a bipartisan group of senators and representatives announced legislation calling for the agency to emphasize defending biotechnology, biomanufacturing and biological data. 
  • Similarly, Lindsey Wilkinson wrote in FedScoop that officials from another DHS component, the Science and Technology Directorate, said at an industry event last week they plan to improve capabilities for detecting and countering biological, chemical or agricultural threats.

Upcoming Industry Events

Here’s a short list of a couple of industry events in the D.C. area that you might want to check out this week:

If you would like your event included in this list, please fill out this form.

That wraps it up for this week. Check back next week for another roundup of trending stories from the government tech media. You can subscribe on LinkedIn or via the form below.