Weekly Roundup: September 20-24, 2021
Submitted by MKeegan on Fri, 09/24/2021 - 11:17
Friday, September 24, 2021
CISA Releases Draft Guidance for Agencies’ Transition to IPv6. Federal agencies are on the clock to transition networks and systems to using Internet Protocol version 6, and the Trusted Internet Connection program office released draft guidance to help them make the move securely. The last pools of addresses for the previous standard—IPv4—were exhausted in 2011. With that in mind, the Office of Management and Budget reissued the IPv6 transition mandate in March 2020, giving agencies until 2025 to shift at least 80% of systems to the new standard.
HUD rolls out AI risk management platform to fight fraud in grant spending. The federal financial management community, faced with a deluge of oversight work during the COVID-19 pandemic, is turning to automation technology to stay ahead of the workload. The Department of Housing and Urban Development, for example, is standing up a new risk management platform called Argus, named after a hundred-eyed monster from Greek mythology. Wilmer Graham, HUD’s chief risk officer, said the risk management platform’s artificial intelligence capabilities will give the agency the equivalent of that many pairs of eyes to monitor the performance of its grants portfolio. When fully implemented, Argus will reduce the time spent manually monitoring HUD’s program grantees by over 75%.
Fed CISO DeRusha Updates Sens. on Status of TMF Funding, First Round of Awards Coming Soon. The Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) got a $1 billion boost in March’s American Rescue Plan, and the TMF board saw a massive influx of TMF requests that it has been working on adjudicating. At a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs hearing today, Federal chief information security officer (CISO) Chris DeRusha updated senators on the status of that extra TMF funding. DeRusha said the board is preparing to release its first round of TMF funding awards, after receiving over 100 requests totaling more than $2.3 billion in funding requests. DeRusha said of the requests, around 75 percent of those centered around cybersecurity.
Cyber Should be a Proactive and Team Sport, SBA CTO Says. With a growing number of advanced threats across the Federal landscape, Small Business Administration (SBA) Chief Technology Officer Sanjay Gupta, encouraged agencies to view cybersecurity as a “team sport” and a proactive sport to gain a better cyber posture. During a Sept. 22 webinar from GovLoop, Gupta said agencies can achieve this through collaborating with other agencies and industry, investing in their entire staff, and looking at proactive measures they can take to foresee cyber threats before they become “real threats.”
GSA Official Discusses ERM Progress. In the early days of the pandemic, GSA leveraged new technologies to advance their electronic records management systems and processes, said Dave Simmons, knowledge management specialist and senior records officer for GSA. The agency set on a mission to convert from analog to digital. According to Simmons, the amount of paper storage that the agency digitized already has reduced GSA’s space needs by the amount of a small or mid-sized building.
5 operating modes every new manager should master. Most new managers are unprepared and inadequately trained to lead other people, and so Art Petty provides a five-point operating system to help guide them through real-life scenarios they'll face. "The new manager should work unceasingly with their boss to uncover key goals, understand strategies and then translate this into, 'Here's what this means for our team,'" he writes. SmartBrief/Leadership
How to handle high-pressure moments. Performance suffers under too much pressure, whether because of anxiety over the outcome, too many demands or something being vitally important to us, says Third Factor CEO Dane Jensen, who recommends letting go of your ego and finding a silver lining. "For instance, your family is still going to be waiting for you at home when you get out of this thing an hour from now, regardless of how it goes," Jensen says. Strategy+Business
* * * *
Next Week on The Business of Government Hour: A Conversation with Author Sarah Stein Greenberg on Creative Acts for Curious People. What are design principles and tools for innovation? How can design principles and practices help government executives transform how government does business and meet its missions? What strategies can leaders employ to achieve a design mindset? Join host Michael J. Keegan as he explores these questions and more with Sarah Stein Greenberg, Author of Creative Acts for Curious People: How to Think, Create, and Lead in Unconventional Ways. Next week on The Business of Government Hour.
Broadcast Schedule: The show airs Monday at 11 a.m., and Friday at 1 p.m. on Federal News Network 1500AM WFED
