Federal legislation to help strengthen the cybersecurity of state and local governments through a Department of Homeland Security grant program passed the House of Representatives on Sept. 30 – with impetus for the legislation coming from across the U.S. in the form of numerous ransomware and other attacks in recent years.
New Orleans emergency communications systems survived unharmed after a December 2019 cyberattack to the city IT’s systems. Now, Executive Director of Orleans Parish Communication District Tyrell Morris is sharing how the city prepared to keep its 911 system secure.
On Friday, Assistant Director for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Bryan Ware announced that the agency was issuing Emergency Directive 20-04, which instructs Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies to apply a security update for Microsoft’s Windows Servers to all domain controllers.
CYBER.ORG, a cybersecurity workforce development organization supported by the Department of Homeland Security, announced the kickoff of the development of the K-12 cybersecurity learning standards that can be used in schools nationwide.
College of the Desert, a public community college in Palm Desert, Calif., is still recovering from the consequences of a malware attack to its website on August 23 but moved forward to begin its online semester as planned earlier this week.
The Cyber Navigators Act, H.R. 8011, would provide additional election-specific IT support to provide help monitoring systems and digesting data from cybersecurity information sharing and analysis centers, said Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y., one of the bills cosponsors.
In the 20th century, literacy in reading, writing, and mathematics might have been the requisites to inform participation in democratic and economic systems, but over the past half century, a new form of necessary literacy has been emerging – cyber literacy.
The Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council (GCC) – which includes members of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and informs how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) works with state and local authorities to protect election systems critical infrastructure – declared on August 20 that the election community is fully prepared to handle the final stretch leading up to the 2020 general elections.
Three members of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission – Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis. – introduced bicameral legislation to appropriate $28 billion in new Federal aid and establish programs to enhance state and local government modernization and cybersecurity.
To help universities protect COVID-19 research, Reps. Andy Barr, R-Ky., and Frank Lucas, R-Okla., introduced legislation to give those universities and research institutions tools to protect from cyberattacks by foreign cyber actors.
