cybersecurity | Government Sales Insider

When will CYBERCOM Split from NSA?

August 8, 2017 by Mark Wisinger Leave a comment

As soon as Congress passed the FY17 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the clock began to tick on CYBERCOM’s elevation to a fully-fledged combatant command.

The NDAA included a clause that mandated CYBERCOM’s elevation to full COCOM status, although there are a few provisions that give us a clue as to when that may occur. Before CYBERCOM can be formally split from Strategic Command, it must reach full operating capability and Congress must approve of CYBERCOM’s readiness.

So what does that mean for the IT industry? With CYBERCOM’s rising and sizeable budget, there’s a lot of opportunity for cybersecurity vendors. But first it’s important to understand what needs to happen for CYBERCOM to split from STRATCOM.

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Filed under Market Intelligence, Sales Tagged with 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, COCOM, CYBERCOM, cybersecurity, Department of Defense, National Security Agency, webinar

Government’s answer to cybersecurity is the most simple and most complicated

August 3, 2017 by Lloyd McCoy Jr. Leave a comment

Lloyd McCoy Jr. cybersecurity, information sharing By Lloyd McCoy, DOD manager

The key to tackling cybersecurity threats in government is a simple lesson most of us learned in preschool: how to share.

Information sharing among federal departments could be the answer to combating cyberattacks. But the big question is whether the Department of Defense and other agencies can share enough.

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Filed under Market Intelligence Tagged with cyberattack, cybersecurity, data sharing, Defensive Cyber Operations Symposium, Five Eyes, Information Sharing, Malware, Office of Personnel Management, threat information

New cyber authorities in new DHS legislation

July 27, 2017 by Tomas O'Keefe Leave a comment

Tom O'Keefe cybersecurity, department of homeland security By Tom O’Keefe, consultant

A bill that has just made its way through the House would finally reauthorize the Department of Homeland Security, which has only been authorized once, in 2002.

There are several cyber provisions included in the House bill, which could mean a lot of opportunity for cybersecurity vendors if it ends up passing in the Senate (where it has, unfortunately, stalled before). But there’s a good chance that even if the bill doesn’t pass, we’ll see some of the additional authorities and responsibilities making their way to DHS components anyway.

Most of the specific provisions in the bill of interest here are ones that require certain components to own responsibility for cybersecurity of various locations. For example, the Transportation Security Administration would be responsible for assessing the cybersecurity of aviation systems, including airports and airlines, developing an information sharing project across the airline industry and assessing the vulnerabilities of the systems that house TSA PreCheck.

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Filed under Market Intelligence, Sales Tagged with Congress, cybersecurity, Department of Homeland Security, DHS, Federal budget, mobility, National Protection and Programs Directorate, Transportation Security Administration, Trump administration, U.S. Coast Guard

What you need to know about changes at Air Force Space Command

July 13, 2017 by Stephanie Meloni 1 Comment

Stephanie Meloni_65x85 By Stephanie Meloni, consultant

More big changes may be Orbital view on Earth from space coming to the Department of Defense outside of CYBERCOM’s anticipated elevation to its own Combatant Command.

Late last month, the House Armed Services Committee voted to move forward with their own version of the FY18 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which would create a new military branch—the “Space Corps.” This would create a sixth military branch that would be solely responsible for combat in space.

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Filed under Market Intelligence, Sales Tagged with Air Force, combat in space, cybersecurity, Department of Defense, House Armed Services Committee, National Defense Authorization Act, war in space

3 ways to be part of smart transportation

June 20, 2017 by Rachel Eckert Leave a comment

Rachel Eckert, SLED consultant

Transportation is increasingly becoming more connected as part of ongoing smart cities/states initiatives. States are connecting transit and working on multi-modal systems to facilitate easier and quicker commutes that efficiently move people and goods throughout a region.

This requires a great deal of data, compelling state and local governments to look to the private sector to develop technology that can collect, store, analyze and visualize that data. This information can then be turned into things like mobile applications that allow users to purchase tickets for buses and other transit through one streamlined application.

Here are three ways state and local governments could be utilizing this data:

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Filed under Market Intelligence, SLED Tagged with autonomous vehicles, cybersecurity, self-driving cars, smart transportation, state and local government, transportation, webinar

A peek inside the government’s cyber strategy

June 13, 2017 by Nick Mirabile Leave a comment

By Nick Mirabile, director of cybersecurity

It seems like every month there’s a new high-profile cyberattack wreaking havoc on our networks. Which is why we recently gathered three federal IT leaders to talk about cybersecurity and how they’re safeguarding their agencies in an era of emerging threats.

This panel discussion last month was fascinating, with success stories on what they’re doing to protect networks, as well as the biggest challenges for how to stay ahead of the threats. I picked up on a few themes important for companies selling cybersecurity solutions to agencies:

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Filed under event Tagged with Air Force, attribute based access control, CDM, cybersecurity, Department of Homeland Security, Identity and access management, National Security Agency

One of the fastest growing IT trends at Air Force

June 8, 2017 by Stephanie Meloni Leave a comment

By Stephanie Meloni, consultant

The Air Force has begun piloting agile methodology in some of its key programs, and we can expect to see this as a growing trend throughout the service and the rest of the Department of Defense, as agile methodology adoption picks up based on acquisition guidance.

The main theme of the AFCEA Montgomery IT Summit (MITS) was using agile development to help the Air Force make data-driven decisions. The service views its data as a strategic asset and leaders point to using data to facilitate decisions that will outsmart adversaries as part of the Third Offset Strategy.

The Program Executive Officer of the Business and Enterprise Systems (PEO BES) office, Rich Aldridge, kicked off the conference by speaking about the challenges that his organization faces when it comes to systems development, which has led the Air Force down the path of using agile development to counter cost, schedule and risk as a way forward.

Here are just a few key priorities the Air Force will be examining as it works to make its software systems more agile:

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