In today’s heatedly competitive job market, government agencies need solutions for retaining top performers, upskilling and reskilling the workforce, and recruiting new talent efficiently. Having a strong Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) program is critical to attract and retain top talent. The use of responsible artificial intelligence (AI) can improve agencies’ diversity goals, while adhering to well-defined...

The U.S. military understands the importance of strategy, and planning out the logistics of supporting that strategy. Once the big objective is determined, leaders determine the strategy that will achieve it, then work upstream, identifying the materials and manpower required, the order of events, bottlenecks to be addressed, and so on.This approach should apply to the entire federal government’s efforts to implement zero trust. The obje...

Today, data is the most strategic asset for every government agency. State and local agencies hold a vast amount of data about their residents, including personally identifiable information. One result: the databases have become attractive targets for cyber attacks, from stealing data to sell to disrupting agency operations or services. All state and local agencies have security in place to protect their systems and data, but in the past coupl...

Federal, state, and local government grant programs support a wide range of critical services, ranging from economic development to disaster recovery to health and human services. Legacy grants management processes can be cumbersome and even subject to waste, fraud, and abuse. This is where technology can help, by simplifying and streamlining processes while strengthening internal controls and providing accurate, real-time visibility for stake...

States and localities have been affected by the wave of ransomware attacks over the past three years. From the small town of Webster Township, Mich. (population under 6,600) to state governments such as Louisiana, agencies large and small, at all levels, have had to scramble to rebuild their websites, databases, email systems and more following such attacks. It is a particular challenge for them due to older IT infrastructure, underfunded prog...

The federal government has been on a mission to update and modernize its IT systems and mothball legacy systems for more than a decade. From “Cloud First” to datacenter consolidation to zero trust, to name just a few – and more GAO reports than there’s room to list – both the Executive Branch and Congress have emphasized the importance of modernization. Two senators recently introduced a bill, the Legacy IT Reduct...

Cybersecurity in today’s volatile world is understandably critical but translating understanding into practice is challenging, especially as agencies’ resource demands are at an all-time high, competent IT talent is at a premium, and budgets aren’t keeping pace. Continuous regulatory compliance and security risks to organizations and individuals alike keep evolving—making it difficult to plan and implement specific, act...

The challenges of cybersecurity in today’s volatile environment have hit state, local and educational agencies and institutions particularly hard. Their IT shops already faced manpower shortages, outdated hardware and software, threats such as ransomware, and skimpy budgets – all of which have been amplified by the pandemic and its follow-on effects. And now war in a faraway country, involving a nation-state already hostile to the...

The cybersecurity landscape has never been more complicated. The Russian invasion of Ukraine prompted cybersecurity alerts across government agencies and critical infrastructure sectors. After the pandemic forced millions to work from home and security professionals adapted to protecting networks without traditional perimeters, new hybrid work models are emerging. Ransomware wreaked havoc on organizations large and small, government and privat...

Several Russian generals have been killed in Ukraine because their soldiers have been forced to rely on communications “in the clear,” on regular cellphones and handheld radios. But that does not necessarily translate into a permanent tactical advantage for the Ukrainians – Russia is also known for its hacking skills. If their secure communications are breached, Ukrainian forces also can be at risk. There is no more timely ex...