The General Services Administration’s 18F organization has developed a tool that aims to help federal information security personnel continuously update their system security plans with code in an effort to manage risks and protect data infrastructure from network intrusions.

Mossadeq Zia, Gabriel Ramirez and Noah Kunin write in a blog post published Friday that the Compliance Masonry tool works to help executives and security operations personnel use searchable content to produce assurance reports.

Compliance Masonry functions as a content management framework designed to handle SSP documentation for 18F’s cloud.gov.

18F also noted that Compliance Masonry is built on open-source software in order to encourage agencies, service providers and developers to use as well as introduce updates to the tool.

Zia, Ramirez and Kunin added that 18F designed the tool based on system component models and OpenControl Schema, which is designed to store SSP documentation and data in machine readable format such as YAML and JSON.

Terry Halvorsen, chief information officer at the Defense Department, has said DoD’s efforts to update its information networks will focus on the deployment of the Joint Regional Security Stacks, DoD News reported Monday.

Cheryl Pellerin writes Halvorsen told reporters at a media roundtable event that JRSS is designed to reduce the Pentagon’s potential access points to fewer than 50 in an effort to protect DoD networks from cyber threats.

Halvorsen, an inductee into Executive Mosaic’s Wash100 for 2016, said that his office will also prioritize the consolidation of data centers and push for the implementation of mobile data access platforms.

He cited such priorities in his written testimony during the March 22 hearing of the House Armed Services Committee’s emerging threats and capabilities subpanel.

“At the end of this month we will have released the wireless guide on how to use wireless that will… be more for internal wireless networks,” he said.

“Very rapidly to follow will be our guest network inside the Pentagon, and how to [use] that.”

Halvorsen also told reporters his plans to work on a bill that aims to help DoD attract information technology and cybersecurity professionals through industry partnerships.

Digital transformation through cloud platforms, analytics and cognitive computing will transform the way the government delivers services, IBM executives Dan Chenok and Matt Spaloss wrote in a blog post published Monday.

Chenok and Spaloss said agencies can apply new design thinking and agile methods as they work on efforts to focus on user experience.

Cognitive systems could help the government scale big data and support both analysis and investigation functions, Chenok and Spaloss wrote.

They added President Barack Obama’s $3.1 billion information technology modernization budget request could hep minimize operating costs and spur agencies to allocate savings for modernization initiatives in the future.

Chenok serves as executive director at the IBM Center for the Business of Government and Spaloss is an executive in IBM’s global business services segment.

Roger Greenwell, the Defense Information Systems Agency‘s cybersecurity chief, has said the existence of diverse software systems across the Defense Department makes network monitoring a challenge, Fedscoop reported Friday.

Grayson Ullman writes Greenwell told the Intel-sponsored “Security Through Innovation Summit” that every DoD service has a different system which can hold up traditional continuous diagnostics and monitoring functions such as automation.

“We have one of everything. Someone made it, DoD bought it, and we might still be running it today,” Greenwell said.

Greenwell noted one solution could be to revert to some basic principles through the DoD Scorecard initiative, where each service or agency under the department is given a score based on achievements of core cybersecurity tenets.

The Department of Homeland Security has released a guide for federal agencies to develop, test and implement mobile applications.

DHS said its Mobile Application Playbook aims to help agencies streamline the process for managing protected apps across their life cycle while adhering to agency policies.

“MAP addresses the challenges of mobile application development and deployment within the government, provides solutions and processes that benefit CIOs, business owners and developers,” the department added.

The department used ideas from several agencies and partner companies to produce the guide.

DHS’ Office of the Chief Technology Officer collaborates with the department’s Science and Technology Directorate to identify and mitigate security threats to mobile technology.