Federal

Get to know the 2021 Public Sector Innovation winners

These 12 projects at the federal, state and local levels show just how transformative government IT can be.

  • By Troy K. Schneider

Quantum computing: Expensive, uncertain, nascent -- and essential

The Government Accountability Office checked in with quantum computing experts to distill thinking on the technology’s potential applications, benefits and drawbacks; factors that could affect development; and policy options to help address those factors.

  • By GCN Staff

To achieve diversity, equity and inclusion goals, look to data

HR leaders can leverage data analytics by partnering with experts to create dashboards that allow them to visualize and track the progress of new policies and procedures in alignment with diversity goals.

  • By Julia Biedry Gonzalez and Gerard Valerio

How the pandemic transformed citizen service

Besides ramping up automated online services, many agencies gained deeper insights into what citizens really needed.

  • By Troy K. Schneider

White House drafts zero-trust guidance

The administration is looking for comments on strategic guidance containing baseline expectations for agency migrations to a zero-trust architecture.

  • By Chris Riotta

Analytics platform surfaces insights from regulatory documents

An open-source project that collects, quantifies and visualizes federal and state regulatory text allows policymakers to analyze the data when making decisions on regulations.

  • By Stephanie Kanowitz

Federal 100’s cybersecurity standouts

Many of this year’s winners were chosen for their work securing the federal government’s IT systems against bad actors looking to take advantage of the chaos caused by the pandemic and election misinformation.

  • By GCN Staff

FedRAMP leans into OSCAL for streamlining authorizations

The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program is pushing adoption of the Open Security Controls Assessment Language to enable automated reviews.

  • By Shourjya Mookerjee

Facial recognition tech: Not just for IDing criminals

A GAO survey of 24 agencies found facial recognition technology has been primarily used for digital access, law enforcement or cyber and physical security, but some agencies are researching new applications.

  • By Susan Miller

DHS looks to CMMC for contractor security model

The Department of Homeland Security is taking a page from the Pentagon’ Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program as it looks to create a verifiable standard to ensure contractors are in compliance with its cyber hygiene clauses released in 2015.

  • By Lauren Williams

Solarium progress report highlights security advances, challenges

While most of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission's recommendations are on track to being implemented, but lack of funding could potentially undermine some efforts, according to a recent the commissions’ 56-page progress report.

  • By Lauren Williams

OMB issues initial instructions for 'critical software' protection

Agencies now have guidance on securing critical software, as required by the Biden administration’s May executive order on cybersecurity.

  • By Adam Mazmanian

NSA outlines Wi-Fi safety best practices

To help remote workers stay secure, the National Security Agency issued guidance on securing wireless devices in public.

  • By Susan Miller

Air Force taps Google Cloud for aircraft maintenance system

Project Lighthouse creates a unified ecosystem that will enable the Rapid Sustainment Office to optimize maintenance readiness, increase staff productivity and reduce costs.

  • By Stephanie Kanowitz
Featured eBooks

Ushering in an era of more with government IT modernization and managed services

Software-defined wide-area networking can help agencies improve bandwidth, contain costs and boost security.

  • By Tony Bardo

Zero trust moves from vision to reality

More sophisticated technologies and better access to data are helping agencies pursue dynamic and context-driven security to combat the growing threats.

  • By Troy K. Schneider

Cyber EO lays a foundation for securing government

The Biden administration’s long-anticipated cybersecurity executive order lays the groundwork for modernizing cyber defenses and protecting critical services from attack by improving incident response and information sharing between the public and private sectors.

  • By Justin Katz

Why open source adoption in federal IT is poised to accelerate

As a result of the pandemic’s push toward modernization, new leadership and additional funding sources, support for open standards is growing and may be reaching a tipping point in federal agencies.

  • By Bob Dunn

Feds’ job satisfaction climbs in latest survey

Results from the Office of Personnel Management’s annual employee survey indicates federal employee job satisfaction improved during pandemic.

  • By Natalie Alms

U.S. agencies compromised by VPN flaws

A number of federal agencies were compromised through vulnerabilities found in virtual private networking software made by Pulse Connect Secure, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency confirmed.

  • By Justin Katz

How COVID and SolarWinds are driving secure modernization

The pandemic and recent security breaches illustrate the urgency government should feel about modernizing legacy infrastructure and systems.

  • By Troy K. Schneider