FCW Insider: Jan. 6

White House task force says Russia likely to blame for SolarWinds hack

The Cyber Unified Coordination Group said in a statement on Tuesday that fewer than 10 government agencies have been "compromised by follow-on activity" on federal systems as a result of the hack.

Pro-bono technologists look to help cash-strapped states struggling with legacy systems

As COVID-19 exposed vulnerabilities in state and local government IT systems, the newly formed U.S. Digital Response stepped in to help.

House passes FedRAMP bill

The House today passed a bill aimed at standardizing the processes federal agencies use to onboard cloud computing technologies.

COVID, black swans and gray rhinos

Steven Kelman suggests we should spend more time planning for the known risks on the horizon.

Quick Hits

*** Feds are set to be able to carry over more vacation time than usual into this new year, per changes made by the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act. On Tuesday, Michael Rigas, the acting director of the Office of Personnel Management, released a memo on the execution of the policy, which allows Title 5 employees to accumulate 25% more than the maximum annual leave, which amounts to 300 hours instead of the usual 240 hours granted to most feds. The additional leave won't be included in the calculation of lump-sum annual leave payment given upon separation.

*** The White House published a National Maritime Cybersecurity Plan. The plan, which is framed as an addition to the National Strategy for Maritime Security, lays out several broad goals for federal agencies regarding risks and standards, information and intelligence sharing and maritime workforce development. The 40-page document lands as the government continues to cope with fallout from the SolarWinds Orion hack, a breach being characterized as one of the worst intrusion in the country’s history.