The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s Secure Cloud Business Applications project, a.k.a. SCuBA, has released new guidance to assist federal agencies in implementing cybersecurity capabilities as they migrate identity authentication from traditional on-premises enterprise networks  to the cloud.

The SCuBA Hybrid Identity Solutions Guidance aims to help agencies better understand identity management in a hybrid environment in which on-premises and cloud-based identity services are deployed as an agency’s primary identity system, CISA said Tuesday.

CISA outlined different approaches for incorporating cloud-based identity services for authentication and defined associated implementation and security considerations.

According to the document, agencies must plan to migrate to cloud-based, password-less authentication via their existing investments in public key infrastructure and personal identity verification or common access cards.

Agencies may also use the second version of the Fast Identity Online standardized authentication protocol or the Web Authentication standard.

CISA also recommends that agencies use modern authenticators and open standards-based protocols when transitioning to a cloud-primary authentication approach.

Computer viruses created from artificial intelligence and the surge in commercial spyware were some of the highlights of this year’s threat assessment released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The 2024 Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community also emphasized China as the biggest cyber threat to IT networks of the U.S. government, critical infrastructure and private sector, ODNI reported Monday.

According to the collective insights from intelligence experts, a minimum of 73 countries acquired commercial spyware to target journalists and dissidents between 2011 and 2013.

The report also warned of potential U.S. election interference from China, Russia and Iran by means of generative AI.

ODNI published an unclassified version of the document, which provides information on digital authoritarianism, chemical and biological weapon proliferation and transnational organized criminals resorting to cyber attacks such as ransomware.

The agency will be represented by Michaela Mesquite, acting group chief for augmenting intelligence using machines, at the Potomac Officers Club’s 5th Annual Artificial Intelligence Summit on March 21. The event is still open for registration.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Office of Management and Budget released a secure development attestation form for software companies.

The form reinforces secure-by-design principles in software development as well as other practices specified in the Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity, according to Eric Goldstein, CISA’s executive assistant director for cybersecurity, and Chris DeRusha, OMB federal chief information security officer and deputy national cyber director.

Software producers that sign the attestation document essentially pledge to be transparent and accountable for security outcomes and to build their software defense goals into the foundation of their organizational structure.

DeRusha, a Wash100 inductee, said in a statement with Goldstein that the form enables the government to protect its critical information systems while ensuring that those resources come from vendors that prioritize such secure principles.

The Potomac Officers Club has opened registration for its 2024 Cyber Summit on June 6. Take advantage of this opportunity to interact with cyber experts and government officials looking into the future of digitalization in federal contracting.