The Fed Mission Success Round Up: Government Shut Down, Data at Rest Encryption, TMF Awards and More in Federal Agencies

Monday October 4, 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.

Biden Signs Shutdown-Averting Stopgap Spending Bill

President Biden on Thursday evening signed a stopgap funding measure to avoid a shutdown that would have otherwise begun Friday. The Senate had passed the measure, which will keep agencies open through Dec. 3, early in the afternoon, followed by the House. Biden’s signature prevents agencies from having to send hundreds of thousands of employees home on furlough.

House Passes Bill to Establish Job Codes for Software and Data Work

The House voted 416 to 9 to pass legislation that would give the Office of Personnel Management 270 days to create one or more occupational series for Federal positions in the fields of software development, software engineering, data science and data management.

After 3 Years, Key IRS Systems Still Aren’t Properly Encrypted

The Federal tax collection agency has spent years researching the best way to encrypt data stored on its networks but has yet to deploy a working solution, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. 

Technology Modernization Fund Support Awarded to 7 New Agency IT Projects

The Technology Modernization Fund Board on Thursday announced seven new projects in its first round of awards for agency IT modernization since the fund received a $1 billion infusion as part of the American Rescue Plan.

Bill to Create Cybersecurity Workforce Rotational Program Passes House

If it becomes law, the Federal Rotational Cyber Workforce Program Act would allow senior tech industry workers to enter government for a set period of time and grant government workers the ability to rotate among federal agencies. Supporters of the proposed legislation have argued that it would open the door for more cyber expertise to enter government.

Standardizing the Playbook for Responding to Cyber Vulnerabilities, Incidents

It is hard to quantify how much the Federal government has been hobbled in its responses to cyber incidents by not having uniform procedures to identify, remediate and recover from vulnerabilities and attacks. But there is no doubt that the lack of a single set of standards makes it difficult for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to track agencies’ responses, their effectiveness and their compliance with National Institute of Standards and Technology standards such as multi-factor authentication. 

NARA to Strengthen Network Resiliency Following Hurricane Ida Outage

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is working to strengthen its network resiliency following a two-week outage of its electronic records archives (ERA) caused by flooding from Hurricane Ida.

HHS Unit Wants Insurance Fraud-Detection Platform Largely Unsupervised

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) want to evolve their health insurance fraud-detection platform into a real-time, machine learning (ML) platform that’s largely unsupervised, according to the director of marketplace IT.

Why Government Agencies Fail at DevSecOps—and How They Can Succeed

DevSecOps isn't a technology in and of itself. It's a process that offers both speed and resiliency in software creation. For government entities, this will be an invaluable tool. Already, we're seeing agencies like the Veterans Affairs and Defense departments adopting these strategies to expedite software development while enhancing cybersecurity. However, when reviewing issues with DevSecOps implementation in the private sector, three common failure points—budget, time and people—could be equally challenging when adopting this process for government use. 

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FDA Enhancing IT Modernization Efforts with New Office of Digital Transformation

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