Hillsborough County Schools system has reported a cybersecurity breach of its information systems but no further details are available. In a televised interview (https://www.fox13news.com/video/1274852), Ron Sanders, cybersecurity expert and former staff director for the Florida Center for Cybersecurity explains how and why such breaches occur, especially at the beginning of a school year.
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IRS Faced Setbacks With Hiring Revenue Agents, Watchdog Finds
The IRS has faced delays in hiring the revenue agents it needs to increase audits of high-income earners and large businesses, according to a new report.
Pentagon approves higher cyber pay for NSA, other defense intelligence agencies
The National Security Agency and other intelligence components across the Defense Department can now offer higher pay for cyber and other technical roles under a new system quietly approved earlier this year.
Contractors a Must for IRS Hiring, Recruiting, Ex-Officials Say
The IRS will have to rely on contractors for support with the herculean task of recruiting and hiring thousands of employees, but the agency must guard against potential pitfalls, observers say (note that the actual article is behind a ‘pay wall’ but with the publisher’s permission, the full text is reproduced here).
Fixing accountability first: Another look at the Restore VA Accountability Act
COMMENTARY | If we really want to rid the VA (and the rest of the federal civil service) of poor performers, we need to find a middle ground between making every employee “at will” and defaulting to today’s status quo.
Agencies to ‘remove barriers’ to cyber hiring under new workforce strategy
The White House’s new strategy for expanding the national cyber workforce carves out a key role for agencies by positioning the federal government as a leader in adopting skills-based hiring practices, while officials will also consider the creation of a Federal Cyber Workforce Development Institute.
There’s more CISA can do to help agencies defend themselves
The leader of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Jen Easterly, says her agency is “not tracking a significant impact against the civilian .gov enterprise” because of the MOVEit hack. But there is more CISA can do to help civilian agencies fight cyber attacks, according to Ron Sanders, the President and CEO of Publica Virtu; former Associate Director at OPM; and former Chief Human Capital Officer at the IRS, and the intelligence community. He’s writing about what CISA can do that it’s not in Gov Exec, and he tells you what steps he thinks CISA can – and should – take.
Motivating Federal Employees: I Wish I knew the Answer, but…
Classic private sector pay-for-performance schemes may not work for federal civil servants, but something called ‘equity theory’ says that neither does the status quo. So what’s the answer? I don’t know, but we can’t stop searching for it!
There’s something DHS can do to help civilian agencies fight cyberattacks
The Homeland Security Department has the power to do a lot more than just issue words of warning.
BOILING THE FROG: How Civil Servants Are Being Politicized Before Our Eyes
Despite Herculean efforts by its Democratic sponsors, a statutory ban on the Trump administration’s controversial Schedule F failed in Congress, and the chances of it ever passing are now less than zero. So, what’s next?