Software Development

Public sector apps face widespread security challenges, report reveals

A new study found alarming security vulnerabilities across the vast majority of public applications over the last year.

  • By Chris Riotta

ChatGPT can rapidly build solutions for network defense

A new report outlines how the generative AI tool can quickly build scripts to thwart attackers and identify security vulnerabilities, but stresses that secure and responsible use of the evolving technology is essential.

  • By Stephanie Kanowitz

Generative AI helps spot malicious open-source code

Developers can ask DroidGPT natural language questions about the code they’re researching and get instant ratings on its security from Endor Labs’ proprietary database.

  • By Chris Teale

VR drives next-gen situational awareness for public safety

The winner of NIST’s challenge developed a digital twin of a command center that gives remote users access to the center’s large-format video walls and 3D tools through a head-mounted display.

  • By Stephanie Kanowitz

Security a top priority in the software development process, report finds

However, the government is lagging behind the private sector in using some of these tools.

  • By Kirsten Errick

Turning hackers’ behavior against them

By identifying psychological biases of hackers, a new program aims to develop proactive network defenses that go beyond tech-based solutions and rely on analysis of attackers’ behavior to thwart them.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

Demand heats up for grants management solutions

With state and local entities having to track extraordinary numbers of grants, thanks to unprecedented amounts of pandemic-related federal funding, the search for software that can simplify grants management is on.

  • By Stephanie Kanowitz

Governments view open source as critical for enhancing digital services, experts say

The U.S. government is “still in the process of organizing and coordinating” its own strategy around the use of open source software, according to a CISA official.

  • By Edward Graham

The federal government is moving on memory safety for cybersecurity

The issue of how coding languages might support software developers’ management of memory has recently gotten attention from the National Security Council, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and Congress.

  • By Mariam Baksh

It’s time-out for leap seconds: an expert explains why the tiny clock adjustments will be paused from 2035

Leap seconds once meant to synchronize the Coordinated Universal Time and Universal Time systems may be abandoned as scientists realize the dangers of computer systems that fail to correctly make the one-second adjustment.

  • By Darryl Veitch, The Conversation

Latest guidance outlines customer responsibilities for software security

The guide provides recommendations for software supply chain security throughout the product lifecycle, from procurement to deployment.

  • By Kirsten Errick

Innovation that widens the social safety net

A dozen new projects aim to help more agencies connect low-income communities with government benefits.

  • By Kaitlyn Levinson

Rule for vendors' secure software self-attestation in the works

Federal agencies will soon need vendors to attest that their products conform with NIST guidance on secure software development, OMB says.

  • By Mariam Baksh

New guide to secure software development passes on content but fails on communication, industry official says

The lengthy document may miss its target audience altogether, one industry observer notes.

  • By Mariam Baksh
Featured eBooks

NSA, CISA and ODNI release new software supply chain guidelines for developers

The guidelines include best practices on open source management, verifying third-party components, delivering code, component maintenance, hardening the build environment and more.

  • By Chris Riotta

County assessor’s code repository powers transparent government

Cook County, Illinois, Assessor’s Office moved paper-based and siloed property assessment records to the GitLab DevOps platform where developers now post data and code to a public-facing repository.

  • By Stephanie Kanowitz

Connected vehicle, infrastructure data drives roadway safety

City planners will soon be able to share and validate digital models of traffic conditions with the help of an open-source tool that collects data from connected vehicles and infrastructure sensors.

  • By Shourjya Mookerjee

The next big quantum leap may require better software

The raw power of increasingly advanced quantum computers could necessitate advances in software to make sense of the noise.

  • By John Breeden II

NIST suggests agencies accept the word of software producers per executive order

The standards agency said an attestation from vendors themselves would be sufficient when screening for cybersecurity, unless an agency's risk calculus suggests otherwise.

  • By Mariam Baksh

6 strategies for better mobile services delivery

Mobile development is no cakewalk, but accessible user-centered apps that allow individuals to solve their own problems can improve government services delivery and spark digital transformation.

  • By Prashant Mehta

Climate data tools win NOAA challenge

The four winning teams developed digital tools designed to help local decision makers use federal data for better climate resilience planning.

  • By Shourjya Mookerjee