Cybersecurity

How a terrorist's iPhone became the 'poster child' for the FBI's encryption challenge

According to an oversight report, a senior FBI official became concerned that techies in the bureau were slow-walking a plan to crack the iPhone of the San Bernardino shooter in the hope of obtaining a favorable court verdict.

Digital Government

Tax watchdog dings IRS on security controls

Poor security controls for an online tax transcript service at the IRS may be fueling refund fraud, an inspector general audit found.

Digital Government

DHS hires former EAC chairman to tackle election security

A month after being passed over for another term on the Election Assistance Commission, Matthew Masterson joins the Department of Homeland Security to tackle election security issues.

Cybersecurity

U.S. indicts Iranian hackers

The Departments of Justice and Treasury announced indictments and sanctions for an Iranian company and 10 individuals for stealing billions of dollars in research and intellectual property from universities in the United States and around the world.

Modernization

CLOUD Act set to pass in omnibus

Congress is poised to pass legislation that will have big implications for cross-border data sharing, law enforcement investigations and data privacy.

Acquisition

Lawmakers eye CDM legislation

Legislation may be coming with the aim of putting the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program back on track.

Acquisition

Rep. Will Hurd: Making modernization possible

A much-need source of IT expertise on Capitol Hill, the 2018 Government Eagle Award winner was instrumental to making MGT a legislative reality.

Digital Government

Congress poised to put up $380 million for election security

A day after members of the Senate Intelligence Committee called for federal funding to assist states in securing their voting systems, the committee's chairman said the forthcoming spending bill will include an expected $380 million in grant funding for that purpose.

Cybersecurity

NPPD taps vendor for No. 2 role

The National Protection and Programs Directorate, the cybersecurity arm for the Department of Homeland Security, has tapped Matthew Travis as deputy undersecretary

Cybersecurity

Why is no one raising a hand to regulate the internet of things?

The U.S. is developing a pair of reports dealing with cybersecurity standards for internet-of-things devices and combatting botnets, but recommendations will be non-binding and officials said not to expect a significant federal regulatory push.

Cybersecurity

U.S. hits back at Russian spies, cyber groups

The U.S. imposed sanctions on Russian hacking groups and related officials, while publicly attributing an ongoing critical infrastructure attack by a group dubbed "Dragonfly" to Russia.

People

OMB addresses 'overlap' in tech offices

The government's top management official explained how the federal CIO and the Office of American innovation can work together.

Cybersecurity

Chip maker AMD faces claims of new bugs

Security researchers from an Israeli company claim to have found over a dozen major bugs in AMD products, but infosec specialists have raised questions around the report's credibility and disclosure timeline.

Digital Government

States aren't shifting voting tech, despite ballot security concerns

Despite heightened scrutiny following the 2016 elections, a new study found virtually no difference in adoption of upgraded voting equipment or use of paper ballots.

Cybersecurity

Lawmakers lose patience with NBIB over clearance backlog

Senators expressed deep frustration about the government's lack of progress reducing the backlog of 700,000 pending security clearance requests, with some threatening to overhaul the process completely.

Cybersecurity

Federal networks susceptible to router hacks, DHS says

A newly released report and binding operational directive dating back to 2016 reveals alarm from DHS about network infrastructure security.

Cybersecurity

White House names deputy undersecretary for DOD R&E

Lisa Porter, the executive vice president of CIA venture arm In-Q-Tel and director of IQT Labs, would help run the Pentagon's newly reorganized IT and R&D operations.

Cybersecurity

CERTs warn on botnets, kernel bugs

Separate cybersecurity alerts from DHS indicate new botnet attack vectors and updates the list of industrial control system vendors facing Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities.

People

Meet the 7 leaders who will be steering modernization dollars

The Office of Management and Budget announced the first members of the Technology Modernization Fund Board.

Cybersecurity

Rogers: CyberCom lacks authority, resources to defend all of cyberspace

The outgoing NSA and U.S. Cyber Command chief told lawmakers CyberCom is not sitting on its hands when it comes to potential Russian cyber interference, but it lacks the authority to do more absent additional presidential direction.