The Fed Mission Success Round Up: Zero Trust, CISA Projects, and Emerging Tech in Federal Organizations

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.

DoD Launches New Zero-Trust Security Portfolio Office: CIO Talks Priorities

The Pentagon will create a new portfolio office this fall to manage the Defense Department’s zero-trust architecture program.

CISA Issues Guidance on Protecting Data From Ransomware

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) published a new document providing recommendations on how to prevent data compromise during ransomware attacks.

New CISA Director Wants to Spend Less Time Cleaning up After Big Hacks, More Time Preparing for Them

This month, Jen Easterly, the new director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), set up the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative (JCDC), a government-backed initiative that enlists some of America’s largest network security firms to drill for cyberattacks with the government. AT&T, Google Cloud and Microsoft are some of the big names involved in the effort. 

OMB Setting up Program Management Office for Interagency Collaboration Tool

The Office for Management and Budget is establishing a program management office for a new interagency collaboration tool. The tool is officially known as the CIO Council Interagency Collaboration Tool and includes a chat function and the ability for staff from different agencies to share documents.

White House Tasks NIST with Producing Another Cybersecurity Framework

The National Institute of Standards and Technology will work with major tech and insurance companies to create a new framework to help companies build more secure software, according to a White House release.

Federal government to expand use of facial recognition despite growing concerns

Ten Federal agencies, from the departments of Agriculture to Veterans Affairs, intend to grow their face-scanning capabilities by 2023 despite worries about accuracy and privacy.

CISA Encourages Mitigations in Face of OnePercent Group

Federal agencies are alerting entities to the threat of a ransomware gang that calls itself the OnePercent Group, a practitioner of a dreaded double extortion tactic.

5 Items to Monitor to Detect DDoS Attacks

Government organizations have been a steady target of DDoS attacks; F5 Networks and IBM X-Force both found that government agencies were the sixth-most targeted vertical in 2020. Since these attacks involve hijacking or abusing network protocols, one way for government IT departments to detect them is to monitor certain types of network traffic.

The Stars are Aligning for Federal IT Open-Source Software Adoption

The Federal government has been slower to embrace open source. But there are several indications that this is changing, and that the government is reaching its own open-source adoption tipping point. The costs of producing modern applications to serve increasingly digital-savvy citizens keep rising, and agencies are budget constrained to find ways to improve service while saving taxpayer dollars.

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.