Policy

House Homeland Gives Thumbs Up for Permanent DHS Cyber Response Team

The committee passed a trio of other bills that would fight digital spies, improve intelligence sharing and bolster counterterrorism tech research.

Emerging Tech

The Pentagon Wants to Automate Software Assurance

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is working to build tools that determine what security criteria certain systems must meet and check whether they hit that threshold.

Artificial Intelligence

IARPA Needs More Training Data for Video Surveillance Algorithms

The data would improve the tech’s ability to link together footage shot across a broad geographic space, allowing it to better track and identify potential targets.

Cybersecurity

Report: Most 2020 Candidates Aren't Using Anti-Spoofing Email Protections

By failing to take advantage of DMARC protections, candidates could expose themselves to the types of phishing attacks that hit the Democratic National Committee in 2016.

Policy

Lawmakers Demand Details on NSA’s Sweeping Phone Surveillance Operations

The Call Detail Record program, which scoops up the phone records of millions of Americans, is set to expire at the end of 2019.

Modernization

Only 11 Percent of Federal IT Runs on the Cloud, Watchdog Says

The Government Accountability Office found the tech’s adoption at civilian agencies has been significantly higher than in the Defense Department.

Emerging Tech

FAA Predicts the Commercial Drone Market Will Triple by 2023

Last year’s surge in drone registrations forced the Federal Aviation Administration to significantly revise its predictions about the industry’s long-term growth.

Modernization

GSA Unveils Key Tenets of Governmentwide E-Commerce Pilot

The implementation plan outlines three major policies that will inform their initial version of the portal, which is scheduled to launch in late 2019.

Emerging Tech

The Pentagon's Drones May Soon Run on Open Source Software

The Defense Innovation Unit is exploring whether a popular commercial platform could help the military keep up with the rapidly advancing drone industry.

Cybersecurity

Lawmakers Worry DHS’ 2020 Budget ‘Shortchanges the Future’

The department's Science and Technology Directorate would be forced to close multiple research facilities to accommodate the 30% budget cut.

Modernization

How to Speed Up FITARA Adoption

The Government Accountability Office outlined a dozen measures that help agencies improve their IT ecosystems.

Emerging Tech

DIU is Helping the Army Put More Backpack-Sized Drones in the Battlefield

The Pentagon’s internal startup accelerator wants to get consumer quadcopters in the hands of soldiers in a matter of months, not years.

Emerging Tech

DHS Funds Tech to Reduce False Alarms at Airport Security

A British X-ray tech company won a $1.7 million contract to build software that double checks whether that nail clipper in your luggage is actually a switchblade.

Cybersecurity

Federal CISO Wants To Move Beyond ‘Whack-a-Mole’ Supply Chain Security

Sweeping bans on Kaspersky Lab, ZTE and Huawei products were the right move, but Grant Schneider thinks the government needs a more scalable approach.

Cybersecurity

DISA Awards Two Contracts to Build a Moat Around the Pentagon’s Internet

The two selected vendors will prototype cloud-based systems that isolate the department’s internal network from the public internet while still allowing employees to browse the web.

Cybersecurity

IRS’ Outdated App Security Leaves Taxpayers at Risk of Identity Theft, Watchdog Says

The agency is updating identity verification controls for its suite of web applications, but the effort won’t be wrapped up until 2023.

Cybersecurity

Top Cyber Diplomat Says U.S. Needs Allies’ Help to Punish Cyberattacks

Creating a unified international response around online attacks will help “establish the legitimacy” of norms for cyberspace, says Rob Strayer.

Emerging Tech

How GSA Is Helping the Government Embrace Automation

The agency, which plans to have more than two dozen bots deployed by the end of the year, is standing up a community of practice around the technology.

Artificial Intelligence

Say Freeze? FBI's Facial Recognition Accuracy Unmeasured For Three Years, Warns Watchdog

GAO says the FBI has implemented none of its six key recommendations made in 2016, questioning the bureau's use of facial recognition in criminal investigations.