FCW Insider: November 15, 2021

New cyber talent system, years in the making, goes into effect at DHS

Agency officials estimate that around 1,000 of its 1,500 cyber vacancies could fit into the new scheme.

Google wants a place on the next big DOD cloud contract

The tech giant says it has met key technical and security thresholds and is interested in a spot on the upcoming Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contract, the multi-cloud successor to JEDI.

OPM updates decade-old telework guide

The Office of Personnel Management is asking agencies to rethink their approach to work in light of lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ICYMI: Speed bumps for VA's new scheduling system

A watchdog report identified gaps in training and oversight for the new scheduling system being implemented at VA medical facilities.

Quick Hits

*** An FBI email server was compromised over the weekend and used to send fake email alerts about a cyberattack. The email alert was sent to thousands of recipients with the header "Urgent: Threat actor in systems" and claimed to be from the Department of Homeland Security.

"The FBI is aware of a software misconfiguration that temporarily allowed an actor to leverage the Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal (LEEP) to send fake emails," the bureau said in a statement on Sunday. "LEEP is FBI IT infrastructure used to communicate with our state and local law enforcement partners. While the illegitimate email originated from an FBI operated server, that server was dedicated to pushing notifications for LEEP and was not part of the FBI's corporate email service. No actor was able to access or compromise any data or PII on the FBI's network."

The bureau said it fixed the flaw that allowed the hackers to gain access to send emails via LEEP.

*** The House of Representatives is going to vote on the VA Electronic Health Record Transparency Act of 2021 this week. The bipartisan bill sponsored by Rep. Frank Mvran (D-Ind.) and Rep. Michael Bost (R-Ill.) requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide Congress with periodic updates on spending on their 10-year, $21 billion-plus electronic health record software program. The bill is expected to pass easily.