On March 26, 2019, the Senate Armed Services’ Subcommittee on Cybersecurity held a hearing to receive testimony assessing how the Department of Defense’s (“DOD”) cybersecurity policies and regulations have affected the Defense Industrial Base (“DIB”). To gain a better understanding of the DIB’s cybersecurity concerns, the Subcommittee invited William LaPlante, Senior Vice President and General … Continue Reading
(This article was originally published in Law360 and has been modified for this blog.) On Jan. 21, 2019, Ellen Lord, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, issued a memorandum focused on assessing contractor compliance with the DFARS cyber clause via audits of a Contractor’s purchasing system.[1] One intent of this guidance is … Continue Reading
On March 11, 2019, a bipartisan group of lawmakers including Sen. Mark Warner and Sen. Cory Gardner introduced the Internet of Things (IoT) Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2019. The Act seeks “[t]o leverage Federal Government procurement power to encourage increased cybersecurity for Internet of Things devices.” In other words, this bill aims to shore up … Continue Reading
This post first appeared on Covington’s Global Policy Watch blog on September 7, 2018 Generating and sustaining the United States’ global economic and military superiority over more than the last half century has depended on a dominant U.S. global economic position and perpetual technological innovation. The United States has increasingly relied on a global industrial … Continue Reading
On April 17, 2018, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen delivered a keynote address at the RSA Conference. A copy of her prepared remarks is available here. Secretary Nielsen’s remarks highlighted efforts by DHS to address the evolving cybersecurity threats to our country’s critical infrastructure. Secretary Nielsen set the stage by describing the … Continue Reading
Earlier this week, both chambers on Capitol Hill took steps that would increase the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) role in the area of cybersecurity. On the Senate side, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved a DHS reauthorization bill that included amendments to rename and reorganize the DHS National Protection and Programs … Continue Reading
Inflection Point for IoT In a relatively short amount of time, the adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) and its applications — from smart cars to the myriad of interconnected sensors in the General Service Administration building reminiscent of HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey — has rapidly proliferated, providing significant opportunities and … Continue Reading
[The referenced article was originally published in Law360.] Since August 2015, defense contractors have been on notice that they were required to implement the security controls in National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) Special Publication (“SP”) 800-171 no later than December 31, 2017 on covered contractor information systems. Although the focus has been on meeting … Continue Reading
On September 21, 2017, the Director of the Defense Pricing/Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy (DPAP) issued guidance to Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition personnel in anticipation of the December 31, 2017 date for contractors to implement the security controls of NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-171. The guidance outlines (i) ways in which a contractor may … Continue Reading
On August 1, 2017, a bipartisan group of Senators introduced legislation (fact sheet) that would establish minimum cybersecurity standards for Internet of Things (“IoT”) devices sold to the U.S. Government. As Internet-connected devices become increasingly ubiquitous and susceptible to evolving and complex cyber threats, the proposed bill attempts to safeguard the security of executive agencies’ … Continue Reading
On Monday, our colleague Caleb Skeath posted on Inside Privacy an engaging article that discusses the new Office of Management and Budget policy setting forth minimum standards for federal agencies in preparing for and responding to breaches of personally identifiable information (PII) and the expected contractual changes that agencies will impose on contractors whose systems … Continue Reading
On October 21, 2016, the Department of Defense (DoD) issued its long-awaited Final Rule—effective immediately—imposing safeguarding and cyber incident reporting obligations on defense contractors whose information systems process, store, or transmit covered defense information (CDI). The Final Rule has been years in the making and is the culmination of an initial rule issued in November … Continue Reading
On October 4th, the Department of Defense (DoD) issued a Final Rule implementing mandatory cyber incident reporting requirements for DoD contractors and subcontractors who have “agreements” with DoD. The Final Rule also highlights DoD’s desire to encourage greater participation in the voluntary Defense Industrial Base (DIB) cybersecurity information sharing program. This Rule is effective on … Continue Reading
President Obama unveiled on February 9, 2015 his Cybersecurity National Action Plan (CNAP), a combination of near-term actions and long-term strategy to “enhance cybersecurity awareness and protections, protect privacy, maintain public safety as well as economic and national security, and empower Americans to take better control of their digital security.” In conjunction with this unveiling, … Continue Reading
On December 30th, the Department of Defense (DoD) issued a Second Interim Rule amending its “Network Penetration Reporting and Contracting for Cloud Services” Interim Rule and giving contractors until December 31, 2017 to implement the NIST SP 800-171 security controls required by DFARS 252.204-7012. As noted in a previous post, DoD has already issued a … Continue Reading
On October 22, 2015, President Obama vetoed the National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”) for Fiscal Year 2016. In so doing, the President cited concerns over provisions keeping in place the sequester, preventing reforms to modernize the military, and making it more difficult to close Guantanamo Bay. As a result, the acquisition provisions of the 2016 … Continue Reading
Following Obama’ s February 13, 2015 Executive Order to promote the sharing of cybersecurity risks and incidents between the federal government and the private sector, Congress has introduced a slew of information-sharing legislation. Such legislation includes the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 (“CISA”), which was marked up and approved 14-1 by the Senate Intelligence … Continue Reading
On December 18, 2014, President Obama signed a bill reforming the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (“FISMA”). The new law updates and modernizes FISMA to provide a leadership role for the Department of Homeland Security, include security incident reporting requirements, and other key changes. Background: FISMA was originally passed in 2002 to provide … Continue Reading
A major piece of IT acquisition reform legislation called the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (“FITARA”), on which we have previously reported, was included in version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (“NDAA FY 15”) passed by the House on December 4, 2014, along with other significant IT reform provisions related to … Continue Reading
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (“NDAA FY 15”) was passed by the House of Representatives on December 4, 2014, and is expected to pass in the Senate. Among NDAA FY 15’s cybersecurity and acquisition provisions are directions for the Secretary of Defense to establish rapid reporting requirements for “operationally critical contractors.” … Continue Reading
On November 18, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) released Draft Special Publication 800-171 (“SP 800-171”), which includes new recommended security controls for nonfederal organizations such as government contractors, state and local governments, and colleges and universities that “process, store, or transmit” controlled unclassified information (“CUI”) on their own systems. These draft standards … Continue Reading
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (“NRC”) appears poised to be the next agency to promulgate cybersecurity breach notification requirements. The NRC has stated that it is moving forward with draft breach notification rules it released in July 2014. Under the draft rules, anyone licensed by NRC to operate a nuclear power plant would be required to … Continue Reading
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently became one of a number of federal agencies to adopt the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (“NIST”) core cybersecurity framework. On October 2, 2014, FDA issued final guidance on the content of premarket submissions for the management of cybersecurity in medical devices. The final guidance sets forth … Continue Reading
On February 12, 2013, President Obama issued Executive Order 13636, which directed federal agencies to undertake a broad range of tasks aimed at enhancing the security and resilience of the nation’s critical infrastructure. One task directed the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) to establish a technology-neutral, voluntary, risk-based cybersecurity framework. A year later, … Continue Reading
