The Fed Mission Success Round Up: Next Phase of Zero Trust; CISA Guidance on Post-Quantum Cryptography; and Commerce Focuses on Space Traffic

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.

White House official: Next Phase of Zero Trust Will Focus on Operations

The federal government is in a “great place” following an agencywide deadline on zero-trust architecture implementation and now looking ahead to more challenging aspects of the cybersecurity model, according to a White House official.

State’s AI Chatbot Journey Started with Collaboration

In the State Department’s ongoing development and deployment of its internal artificial intelligence chatbot, collaboration is just as important as the technology bed-rocking these systems, as highlighted in this recent NextGov article.

CISA Guidance Focuses on Post-Quantum Cryptography Tools

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency publicly released its post-quantum cryptography migration guidance, focusing on prepping the most vulnerable federal digital systems for the potential advent of a cryptographically-relevant quantum computer.

CISA Faces Challenges to Sharing Cyber Threat Information

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) program for sharing cyber threat data is struggling with a steep decline in participants, according to a new report from the Department of Homeland Security inspector general.  

Commerce Launches Initial Phase of its Space Traffic Coordination System

The Commerce Department recently announced that it has begun to beta test its new process for alerting satellite operators of potentially threatening space traffic and debris. The new system will provide conjunction data messages “for approximately 1,000 space objects six times a day.” 

Education Department Begins Testing of New FAFSA Form

The U.S. Department of Education is launching the first testing period for its phased rollout of the 2025-26 form to apply for federal financial student aid, with more students set to partake in this beginning testing stage than initially expected, according to GovExec.