FCW Insider: November 9, 2021

OMB official reviews progress six months after the cyber EO

A federal official overseeing the implementation of the cybersecurity executive order signed in May said many agencies have met its aggressive deadlines so far

DOD awards $32.6 million in spectrum OTAs

The awards were made via an other transaction agreement through the National Spectrum Consortium. DOD has increasingly used OTAs to rapidly buy and fund prototype development as well as fielding new technologies.

Labor Department rolls back Trump-era religious exemption for contractors

DOL announced it would undo a rule that was criticized by civil rights activists as easing the ability of some federal contractors to discriminate when making hiring decisions.

ICYMI: Why DOD is so bad at buying software

The Defense Department wants to acquire emerging technology faster and more efficiently. But will its latest attempts to streamline its processes be enough?

Quick Hits

*** The Justice Department announced charges against two foreign nationals and the seizure of $6.1 million in a ransomware case arising from the July hack of a Florida software company that resulted in malware being spread to up to 1,500 of the company's customers. One of the alleged hackers, Ukrainian national Yaroslav Vasinskyi, is in U.S. custody. Russian national Yevgeniy Polyanin, who worked with Vasinskyi through the REvil ransomware group, was charged in absentia.

The charges, which came out of an investigation by DOJ's Ransomware and Digital Extortion Task Force, rated a White House statement on Monday.

"When I met with [Russian] President Putin in June, I made clear that the United States would take action to hold cybercriminals accountable," President Joe Biden said in a statement. "That's what we have done today. We are bringing the full strength of the federal government to disrupt malicious cyber activity and actors, bolster resilience at home, address the abuse of virtual currency to launder ransom payments, and leverage international cooperation to disrupt the ransomware ecosystem and address safe harbors for ransomware criminals."

*** Federal agencies have made progress formatting and submitting spending data to USASpending.gov as required by the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014, according to a new oversight report. The Government Accountability Office found that 101 federal agencies submitted data files to the Treasury Department as required by the law, up from 96 in 2019 and 78 in 2017. GAO made nine recommendations to improve the process including urging Treasury publicly disclose on the spending website that data submitted by federal entities is not always in alignment with the data standards required under the act.