Agencies have invested heavily in migrating applications to the cloud and creating cloud-native applications to serve the public. Securing these applications has emerged as a primary objective, particularly in incorporating them into a zero trust architecture. Strengthening app security focuses on integrating security measures throughout the application lifecycle – from development to deployment – by using cloud-native technologies...

The means and methods of launching cyber attacks against government agencies and critical infrastructure industries at all levels continue to proliferate rapidly. From cyber attacks on water and wastewater treatment systems to ransomware targeting hospitals and physicians’ practices, phishing attacks to straightforward fraud, state and local agencies, educational institutions, and tribal and territorial governments often find themselves...

The means and methods of launching cyber attacks against government agencies and critical infrastructure industries at all levels continue to proliferate rapidly. The U.S. government is responsible for attending to our national interests, from federal safety nets such as environmental protection and Social Security to national defense and protection against hostile foreign actors, whether individuals, terrorist groups or nation-states. Hundred...

The biggest challenge federal government stakeholders currently face is managing their workforce effectively across myriad sites, including fully remote work, hybrid work and multiple office locations. Caught between a competitive job market and a dearth of talent, leaders must think through the psychology of return-to-work policies and consider theexperience for their employees. A February 2024 memo from the Office of Personnel Management con...

2024 has been, sadly, a banner year for cyber attacks against both government and private sector organizations. On Nov. 29, for instance, the Veterans Administration announced it suffered a breached that exposed hundreds of former service member’s medical information. and On Nov. 13, for instance, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a joint statement that the Chinese government (PRC) has been...

In an era where remote access and edge computing have become common, the idea of a security perimeter is out of date and ineffective. This is part of the push to move government IT systems to a Zero Trust architecture – every user and every interaction must be verified every time. This also means that cybersecurity must be dynamic, able to respond instantly to threats and able to pivot as new risks emerge. To meet the need, security has...

The federal government is pursuing transformative advancements in healthcare IT. Most notable is the implementation of a single, unified electronic health record (EHR) system that connects multiple federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, VA, and Coast Guard. This system enables real-time data sharing across departments, streamlining care coordination and improving efficiency for millions of patients. Agencies can point to both c...

When it comes to cybersecurity, communicating metrics to both technical and non-technical audiences has become paramount. Cybersecurity metrics play a critical role in helping agencies understand their security performance, identify vulnerabilities, and prioritize security investments. In the past, the approach to cybersecurity was “don’t let it get in the way of our work.” Today, sophisticated threats have elevated cybersecu...

All federal agencies are working to meet the Office of Management and Budget mandate to establish a zero trust architecture for their systems – a key element in improving cybersecurity across agencies. The National Security Agency (NSA) has laid out the seven pillars of Zero Trust: User, Device, Network & Environment, Application & Workload, Data, Automation & Orchestration, and Visibility & Analytics. In July the agency...

All levels of government—from federal agencies all the way down to cities, towns, and territories—are facing an ongoing struggle to replenish the ranks of their employees as they retire or move on to other jobs, either within government or the private sector. Agencies face increasing pressure to hire, train and retain employees just to keep pace with the growing number of retirements. Compounding the issue is the complexity of the...