FCW Insider: March 15, 2021
The latest news and analysis from FCW's reporters and editors.
Biden to use Quad as 'vehicle' for regional cyber cooperation
Jake Sullivan, the national security advisor, says President Joe Biden discussed both the supply chain attack on SolarWinds and vulnerabilities being exploited in Microsoft Exchange with leaders of Japan, India and Australia.
New bill looks to centralize CISA's role in ICS threat response
Rep. John Katko (R-N.Y.) cited the recent cybersecurity incident at a water treatment plant in Oldsmar, Fla., as the impetus for the legislation.
Biden signs Rescue bill, boosting TMF and adding pandemic leave for feds
The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act was signed into law on Thursday. In addition to a massive influx of funding to support Americans harmed by the economic fallout of the pandemic, there is funding available for IT modernization and provision to help the federal workforce cope with COVID-19.
Quick Hits
*** The Technology Modernization Fund awarded the Department of Labor $9.6 million to modernize the agency's data infrastructure to improve availability of data to agency partners and the general public. The award is the first TMF project to be announced under the Biden administration and comes just a day after the American Rescue Plan Act was signed into law, increasing the TMF capitalization by $1 billion.
*** The U.S. Web Design System, a project housed at the General Service Administration's Technology Transformation Services, released an update last week on what's next for agencies looking to take advantage of common design tools and best practices to build government websites. Dubbed USWDS 2.0, the project is looking to take a fresh look at "the fragmented ecosystem of the thousands of federal websites that currently exist, all of which offer different experiences for the public to navigate" and try to develop more consistent, navigable user experiences.
*** The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency updated its alert with new guidance on responding to the Microsoft Exchange Server vulnerabilities currently being exploited worldwide. The update includes details of webshells being used to execute remote takeovers of compromised systems and information on ransomware activity associated with the vulnerabilities.