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Joseph Marks

Senior Correspondent Joseph Marks covers cybersecurity for Nextgov. He previously covered cybersecurity for Politico, intellectual property for Bloomberg BNA and federal litigation for Law360. He covered government technology for Nextgov during an earlier stint at the publication and began his career at Midwestern newspapers covering everything under the sun. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and a master’s in international affairs from Georgetown University.
Results 1-10 of 1915

Senate Defense Bill Aims to Scrub Cyber Adversaries from U.S. Military Tech

May 25, 2018 FROM NEXTGOV arrow Companies that sell equipment and services to the U.S. military will be forced to disclose business ties that allow foreign governments to access their sensitive data, such as software source code, under the Senate version of an annual defense bill. Both Russia and China have required companies to submit to...

GSA Wants to Modernize How the Government Buys Cybersecurity Services

May 24, 2018 FROM NEXTGOV arrow The government’s main contracting agency wants to make it easier for federal and state agencies to quickly acquire a broader array of cybersecurity services, according to contracting documents released this week. The General Services Administration is interested in updating the list of “highly adaptive cybersecurity services” it offers on its...

Huawei, ZTE Get the Boot in House-Passed Defense Bill

May 24, 2018 FROM NEXTGOV arrow The House passed its version of an annual defense bill Thursday that would bar government agencies and federal grant recipients from using technology provided by the Chinese telecommunications providers Huawei and ZTE. Intelligence officials have warned the Chinese government could use those companies as digital spying tools. The National Defense...

FBI Stands Firm on ‘Going Dark’ Problem While Acknowledging Inflated Data

May 23, 2018 FROM NEXTGOV arrow The FBI won’t step back from its dire warnings about warrant-proof encryption systems despite acknowledging that officials grossly overstated the number of instances in which encryption stymied an investigation, an official said Wednesday. FBI officials have been warning since 2014 that warrant-proof encryption systems are allowing terrorists and criminals to...

Cyber Amendments to Watch in the House’s Defense Authorization Bill

May 22, 2018 FROM NEXTGOV arrow The House Rules Committee will consider a slew of amendments to a major defense policy bill Tuesday afternoon, including amendments that address major congressional cybersecurity priorities. An amendment from Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., for instance, would prohibit President Donald Trump from eliminating the role of White House cyber coordinator, a...

The IRS Doesn’t Know Who’s Accessing Its Most Sensitive Data

May 21, 2018 FROM NEXTGOV arrow The Internal Revenue Service hasn’t accurately cataloged all the components of its highest value hardware and software systems and doesn’t have a clear count of who has privileged access to those systems, according to an audit released Monday. The IRS also likely isn’t patching software vulnerabilities on its highest value...

Lawmakers to NIH: Is Tech Stressing Out Our Kids?

May 21, 2018 FROM NEXTGOV arrow A pair of lawmakers wants the National Institute of Health to weigh in on whether tech addiction is endangering children and teens. Many tech companies, particularly those supported by ads, design their products to maximize screen time, but early studies show staring at a screen can lead to stress, depression...

ZTE Kerfuffle Shows Cybersecurity Doesn’t Operate in a Vacuum

May 21, 2018 FROM NEXTGOV arrow President Donald Trump’s signal last week that he might loosen restrictions that effectively shuttered Chinese phone maker ZTE drew intense criticism from national security-focused lawmakers who worry the company could be used as a Chinese spying tool. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in particular, struck back at the president, charging that...

Cybersecurity ‘Moonshot’ Plan to Head to Trump in November

May 17, 2018 FROM NEXTGOV arrow A government advisory group plans to forward a plan to President Donald Trump in November for how to make the internet and devices connected to it substantially more secure than they are today. The panel is calling the cybersecurity project a “moonshot,” because the members believe making the internet fundamentally...

Pentagon is Planning Another Bug Bounty Contract

May 17, 2018 FROM NEXTGOV arrow The Pentagon is considering offering a broad bug bounty contract that would accommodate a variety of different bounty models on either short-term or continuous timeframes, according to contracting documents released earlier this month. The move comes after two years during which the Defense Department and military services have launched five...