By Justin Katz
Feb 03, 2021
Einstein is the Department of Homeland Security’s intrusion detection system. It observes traffic flowing in and out of federal networks, allowing the government to target threats identified by a database of known malware. That makes it unlikely Einstein ever could have detected the malware implanted into SolarWinds Orion because it was delivered to agency networks through a trusted update.
However, overhauling Einstein to identify unknown or zero-day threats would be far too costly, cybersecurity analysts said. The most viable path forward, they argued, would be to install new capabilities, necessarily bolstered by private industry.
Kiersten Todt, formerly executive director of the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity, was blunt about Einstein s record. There are no real strong success stories of Einstein, she said. When you look at what happened with SolarWinds, they essentially outsmarted Einstein.
By Lauren C. Williams
Feb 03, 2021
The Navy has released nearly 60 recommendations on combatting systemic racism and sexism in the ranks as part of a long awaited report on diversity and inclusion.
Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Michael Gilday, ordered the Task Force One Navy report, which spans 141 pages with 56 recommendations, following the mass protests in response to the police killing of George Floyd last summer. Gilday said the Navy had failed to adequately address systemic racism and sexism in the service. We have fallen short in the past by excluding or limiting opportunity for people on the basis of race, sexual orientation, sexual identity, gender or creed, Gilday said in a statement. Simply put, all Sailors – uniformed and civilian - and applicants for accession to the Navy must be treated with dignity and respect above all else.
By Adam Mazmanian
NOTE: This story first appeared on FCW.com.
Leading Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform are pushing $9 billion in technology refresh money as part of the larger $1.9 trillion pandemic relief and recovery package being pushed by the Biden administration.
In a Jan. 27 letter led by Oversight Chairwoman Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Government Operations Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), lawmakers stressed the importance of expanding the Technology Modernization Fund – a pot of no-year money that agencies can tap for projects to improve service delivery, to move systems to the cloud and other efforts to cast off expensive and creaky legacy systems.
By Natalie Alms
NOTE: This story first appeared on FCW.com.
The Biden administration tapped former officials to senior slots at the General Services Administration, but the nomination of an administrator is still to come.
Katy Kale, who served as GSA s chief of staff during the Obama administration, was appointed to the post of deputy administrator and will serve as acting head of the agency until a top official is appointed and confirmed. Kale led the new administration s GSA transition team
Sonny Hashmi was tapped to serve as commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service. He was GSA s CIO and deputy CIO during the Obama administration.
By Justin Katz
Jan 20, 2021
Donald Trump issued an executive order on the final night of his presidency aimed at forcing cloud providers to capture more complete records about foreign customers. Foreign actors use United States [cloud services] for a variety of tasks in carrying out malicious cyber-enabled activities, which makes it extremely difficult for United States officials to track and obtain information . before these foreign actors transition to replacement infrastructure, according to a letter from Trump to Congress publicly released in the evening of Jan. 19.
To address those threats, the EO states, the government will move to require cloud providers to keep more complete records of foreign entities that they sell to and potentially require companies to limit certain foreign actors’ access.