The Fed Mission Success Round Up: Facial Recognition Technology, Cybersecurity, IT Fellowships, and New Appointments in Federal Agencies

Monday September 6, 2021

Welcome to the Fed Mission Success News Round Up brought to you by Makpar. Each week, we will provide a summary of actionable news and insights to help aid in overall mission success for Federal agency IT decision-makers and influencers.

Federal Agencies to Increase Facial Recognition Use, GAO Finds

The Government Accountability Office recently released a report detailing the past and future uses of facial recognition technology within 24 federal agencies. The report found that nearly half plan to increase use.

Federal CIO Martorana: ‘We must focus on service delivery to the American public’

Government agencies must double down on service delivery to the American public and use technology to bridge inter-departmental silos, according to Federal CIO Clare Martorana.

White House Launches US Digital Corps

The White House launched a two-year fellowship Monday designed to place early-career software engineers, data scientists and other technologists at Federal agencies. Dubbed the U.S. Digital Corps, participants will improve IT service delivery in relation to the Federal coronavirus response, economic recovery, cybersecurity and agencies’ individual missions.

OMB Directs Agencies to Increase Log Sharing to Combat Cyber Incidents

The Office of Management and Budget directed Federal agencies to increase their sharing of information system logs needed to accelerate cybersecurity incident response, in a memo issued Friday.

OMB Names New U.S. Digital Service Chief

The Office of Management and Budget Thursday named Mina Hsiang as administrator of the United States Digital Service, a collection of technologists who work on critical tech projects across the Federal government.

Veterans Affairs Department Selects New Acting Chief Information Officer

The Veterans Affairs Department named long-time physician and federal health care executive Dr. Neil C. Evans as its new acting chief information officer.

Another Cyber Executive Order Deadline Looming for Agencies

The Office of Management and Budget is giving agencies 60 days to assess how well they log cybersecurity incident data against a new maturity model released today.

CISA Opens Sign Up for the President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competition

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency opened registration for a cybersecurity competition designed to test and challenge the skills of Federal employees.

From the Makpar Blog …

In case you missed it, here are our latest blog posts:

• Makpar’s Pragmatic Agile Approach to Developing Its Fraud Detection Analytics Dashboard

• OPINION: Mentor-Protégé Programs Bring Further Value to Government

• PODCAST: A Deeper Look at Makpar’s Fraud Detection Analytics Dashboard

• How Data Virtualization Saves Agencies Significant Resources

• Beyond Passwords: Identity Access Management in the Digital Age

• Celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month with Asian Immigrant Contributions to Tech

• Tips for Remote Agile Scrum Ceremonies: How to Optimize for Success

• Agile Transformation

• Increasing Federal IT Efficiency: How to Streamline the ATO Process Leveraging DevSecOps

• Tackling the Challenges of Big Data for Federal Agencies

• How Agencies Can Score Quick Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) Victories

• PODCAST: How the Federal Government can Overcome Barriers to Agile Transformation

• CIO-SP4 BPA, BIC MAC, and POLARIS Contracts to Drive Further Government Innovation

• Makpar Applauds Appointment of First Native American U.S. Cabinet Member

• The Cybersecurity Framework That Keeps You and Your Family Safe as You Access Your IRS Records for Stimulus Checks

• Data Security Win: Virginia is Second State in U.S. to Pass Data Protection Legislation

• How Decentralized Decision Making Can Help Federal Agencies Adopt a More Agile Practice

• 4 Ways to Migrate a Workload to the Cloud for Federal Government Agencies

• PODCAST: The SolarWinds Breach Points to Need for Cyber Fundamentals

• In Response to The SolarWinds Breach: The Need to Return to Cybersecurity Fundamentals.

• Is the Product Owner the Most Important Role in Government Agile Development?

• Cloud Migration Primer for Federal Agencies

• Breaking Down Cultural Barriers to Cloud Adoption for Federal Government Agencies

• Cybersecurity Best Practices for Federal Agencies, Small/Medium Businesses, and Individuals

Makpar has over a decade of experience providing high-level strategic and project management services, focused on cybersecurity and cutting-edge technologies. Please contact us here for more information about how we can enhance mission success for your agency.