Cybersecurity

CISA to make comprehensive staff cuts in coming days, people familiar say

The nation’s premier cybersecurity agency, which sits in the Department of Homeland Security, has been in the Trump administration’s crosshairs for some time.

Trump order put states at the forefront of cyber and natural disaster response

The executive order signed this week is part of a wider push to put the onus on states and localities to prepare for disasters, rather than the federal government.

CISA works to contact probationary employees for reinstatement after court order

Trump officials have vowed to downsize the nation’s leading cybersecurity agency. Ex-officials have said the moves would be harmful to national security.

OPM skirted agency norms in assessing the privacy of its new email system

Anonymous federal employees filed a lawsuit alleging that the new email system could be placing their sensitive personal information at risk.

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‘Robbery in progress': Small group protests at OPM over Musk allies’ access to federal employee personal data

Several associates of Elon Musk have been put in leadership positions at the Office of Personnel Management as well as the General Services Administration.

OPM awards $149M cyber, network operations support contract

The Office of Personnel Management wants to more heavily lean on cloud-based technologies and a zero trust approach.

US has ‘a lot of work to do’ on cyber defenses, departing cyber czar says

Outgoing National Cyber Director Harry Coker thinks his office needs more influence over the federal cyber budget but not necessarily more authority on offensive cyber operations.

Lawmakers request briefing from Treasury secretary on Chinese hack

The compromised third-party offering was a commercial remote services tool not listed in the marketplace for FedRAMP, the government’s cloud security compliance framework.

Feds claims just 7% of available funds from OPM breach settlement, remainder returns to Treasury

Only a few thousand current federal workers, former employees and applicants cashed in from 2015 hack.

Chinese-sponsored hackers accessed Treasury documents in ‘major incident’

The incident comes in the final days of the Biden presidency and as officials work to root out China-tied hackers from U.S. telecommunications systems.

Could states’ cyber get trickier under a Trump administration?

Some Republicans have proposed eliminating CISA altogether, which could complicate information sharing efforts. More pressing, though, is the ending of federal cyber grants.

Senators call for watchdog to investigate TSA’s use of facial recognition

In a letter to the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General, 12 senators warned that the deployment of facial biometrics at every U.S. airport could create “one of the largest federal surveillance databases overnight without authorization from Congress.”

Hackers nabbed emails between congressional staff and the Library of Congress 

Affected staff were notified Friday afternoon, according to an internal email. Capitol Hill communications with the Congressional Research Service frequently involve confidential legislative drafts or policies still in the brainstorming stage.

CISA Director Jen Easterly to depart on Inauguration Day

Easterly and Deputy Director Nitin Natarajan are set to leave as an administration change casts doubt on the agency’s future. 

Veterans’ military skills can help them fill cyber vacancies, State official says

The White House’s national cybersecurity strategy said that greater veteran participation in the U.S. cyber workforce can help enhance critical digital defenses.

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DHS issues internal comms guidance amid telecom breach investigation

The DHS Cyber Safety Review Board is already slated to investigate the hacking collective, dubbed Salt Typhoon, and its intrusion into telecommunications firms and wiretap infrastructure.

Pentagon puts a dent in cyber workforce vacancies

Nearly a quarter of the Defense Department’s cyber jobs went unfilled last year.