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Teresa Carlson: Splunk’s New Government Logging Modernization Program to Optimize Federal Cyber Compliance
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Teresa Carlson: Splunk’s New Government Logging Modernization Program to Optimize Federal Cyber Compliance

Splunk, a San Francisco, California-based data platform company, has launched its Government Logging Modernization Program designed to help federal agencies comply with cyber incident response requirements.

Developed in response to the Biden Administration’s Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity and the Office of Management and Budget’s M-21-31 memorandum, Splunk’s new program will help agencies capture and store log data, standardize the logging process and achieve compliance with the first tier of a new enterprise event logging maturity model, the company said Tuesday.

“When it comes to improving our nation’s cybersecurity posture, reliable and secure enterprise logging is a critical step toward gaining visibility across a multi-layered environment, and Splunk is the leader in that category,” said six-time Wash100 Award recipient Teresa Carlson, Splunk’s president and chief growth officer.

As part of its Government Logging Modernization Program, Splunk is currently offering exclusive discounted pricing, expanded storage offerings, customized FedRAMP migration assessments and dedicated security experts to federal agencies through the Splunk Cloud Platform to accelerate compliance with the new mandates.

“Given Splunk’s deep commitment to the public sector, we’ve decided to commit resources that help them meet the new requirements quickly,” Carlson added.

Splunk’s FedRAMP-approved Cloud Platform allows for streamlined monitoring, analysis and investigation of data on a centralized platform and offers a tiered data strategy approach that is designed to optimize federal agencies’ cybersecurity resilience efforts.

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Marketing & Communications Leader Roxanne Taylor Elected to Unisys Board of Directors
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Marketing & Communications Leader Roxanne Taylor Elected to Unisys Board of Directors

Unisys Corporation has elected Roxanne Taylor, who currently serves as the chief marketing and communications officer for New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, to its board of directors, effective October 18th. 

As a newly-elected board member, Taylor will leverage her three decades of experience in marketing, communications and brand leadership to help accelerate the progress of multiple brand awareness and culture initiatives across Unisys, including diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts.

“Roxanne is a globally recognized leader in creating cultures of innovation and equality, building brands with purpose and promoting opportunities in technology for women and minorities, each of which are important priorities for Unisys,” said Peter Altabef, CEO and chair of Unisys.

The new board member’s notable recognitions include being named to Forbes’ 2017 “World’s Most Influential CMOs” list as well as FierceCMO’s “B2B CMOs to Watch” list.

Prior to joining the Unisys board of directors, Taylor served 23 years at Accenture, where she held the role of chief marketing and communications officer for over 10 years and helped drive the company’s growth strategy. She also previously held marketing and communications roles with Reuters and Citicorp.

Currently, Taylor also serves on the boards of multiple technology and marketing firms including Thoughtworks, Pure Storage, OpenX and Whalar, and she is also a member of the Arthur W. Page Society.

Taylor noted that she looks forward to utilizing technology to empower people and drive innovation to support Unisys’ culture and brand goals.

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CentralSquare Technologies Appoints Amir Siddiqi as Chief Customer Officer; CEO Dave Zolet Quoted
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CentralSquare Technologies Appoints Amir Siddiqi as Chief Customer Officer; CEO Dave Zolet Quoted

Amir Siddiqi has been tapped to lead CentralSquare Technologies’ post-sales functions as the company’s chief customer officer.

In his new role, Siddiqi will help customers utilize CentralSquare’s full scope of products and services and work closely with Dave Zolet, CentralSquare Technologies CEO and four-time Wash100 Award winner.

“As we continue to build momentum in the marketplace and bring the power of CentralSquare to new communities, it is vital we also ensure the long-term success of our customers and the communities we serve,” Zolet said.

He added, “Amir’s customer-first experience will be a game-changer for our customers and communities, and we’re thrilled to have his expertise on our team.”

Siddiqi joins CentralSquare from Alteryx, where he served as senior vice president of vertical solutions and drove the group’s execution of technology-focused reference architecture.

The new CCO’s previous experience also notably includes serving in executive leadership and sales roles at multiple information technology, software and consulting companies including Docker, Cloudera/Hortonworks, VMware and CA Technologies.

Siddiqi said he looks forward to supporting the company’s customers and leading CentralSquare in its mission to make “communities safer, smarter and more connected through innovative technology.”

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Anne Neuberger: International Counter-Ransomware Initiative Focused on Building Resilience, Diplomatic Partnership
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Anne Neuberger: International Counter-Ransomware Initiative Focused on Building Resilience, Diplomatic Partnership

The White House National Security Council facilitated a two-day virtual event for the International Counter-Ransomware Initiative that kicked off Oct. 13 and Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology and a two-time Wash100 Award winner, said the event addressed four elements of the fight against ransomware.

“It focused on uniting law enforcement efforts, uniting efforts to trace illicit use of cryptocurrency, and it focused on building resilience, and deepening diplomatic partnership to ensure that norms around addressing ransomware activity from within borders are fully implemented,” Neuberger said of the event during the Washington Forum Press Center’s virtual briefing Friday.

More than 30 countries participated in the event and she said the nations highlighted the importance of cooperation among international partners to improve information exchange.

“Because ransomware criminals often repeat their activities, repeat their tactics and techniques, more robust and real-time communication across governments can not only enhance national capabilities to address a ransomware attack while it’s happening, but can also potentially prevent an attack,” Neuberger told journalists.

She cited the importance of establishing a network of countries to counter a network of ransomware actors and its infrastructure and noted that participating countries mentioned the need for capacity building around resilience, law enforcement, information exchange, blockchain analysis and tracing of virtual currencies.

Supply Chain Cybersecurity: Revelations and Innovations

ExecutiveBiz, sister site of GovConDaily and part of the Executive Mosaic digital media umbrella, will host a virtual event about securing the supply chain on Oct. 26. Visit ExecutiveBiz.com to sign up for the “Supply Chain Cybersecurity: Revelations and Innovations” event.

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NNSA Taps SHINE Technologies to Produce Critical Isotope in Medical Diagnosis; Jill Hruby & Greg Piefer Quoted
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NNSA Taps SHINE Technologies to Produce Critical Isotope in Medical Diagnosis; Jill Hruby & Greg Piefer Quoted

Wisconsin-based radioactive isotope production company, SHINE Technologies, has entered into a $35 million cooperative agreement with the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration to support the production of critical isotope, molybdenum-99 for use in diagnosing heart disease and cancer, among other medical procedures.

Under the agreement, SHINE Technologies will help the NNSA establish a Mo-99 supply that is produced domestically and without highly enriched uranium (HEU), which is known to present proliferation concerns, the agency said Tuesday.

DOE Under Secretary for Nuclear Security and NNSA Administrator Jill Hruby called the agreement a “triple win” for the U.S. in the enhanced implementation of Mo-99 in medical advancements.

Hruby explained, “NNSA’s continued partnership with SHINE will help ensure that doctors and patients get the medical isotopes they need, that those isotopes are produced without the use of proliferation-sensitive HEU, and that the work gets done here in the United States.” 

NNSA’s Mo-99 program, established in 2012 and managed by the Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, works to prevent the development of nuclear weapons via potentially stolen or diverted HEU by state and non-state actors. 

Greg Piefer, CEO and chairman of SHINE, said the company looks forward to supporting NNSA’s Mo-99 program as they collaborate to “improve the lives of millions of patients and make the world safer through the elimination of highly enriched uranium anywhere in the supply chain.”

This agreement marks the third of four issued under NNSA’s recent Funding Opportunity Announcement in July 2020.

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NOAA Adds AI Tool to Climate-Focused Website; Administrator Rick Spinrad Quoted
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NOAA Adds AI Tool to Climate-Focused Website; Administrator Rick Spinrad Quoted

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has integrated artificial intelligence technology into a public-facing website that offers news and educational materials about climate science.

AI-powered Climate.gov supports location-based searches, content integration and crosslinking across the site, the agency said Oct. 12th.

The site has an updated dashboard that offers a visual readout of climate trends, a list of frequently asked questions and answers for non-experts, a data primer and National Centers for Environmental Information-hosted tools.

“Climate.gov helps meet the diverse needs of the public, whose health, safety, and economic well-being are directly tied to climate, water, and weather,” said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad.

Spinrad added the site redesign effort would advance his objective to maintain the agency’s role as “the authoritative provider of climate products and services, and increase our capacity to help communities better understand, prepare for, and respond to climate risks and impacts.”

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SBA Inspector General Releases FY 2022 Management Challenges Report
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SBA Inspector General Releases FY 2022 Management Challenges Report

The Small Business Administration’s (SBA) office of inspector general has issued a report on eight performance and management challenges facing SBA in fiscal year 2022. 

The first two challenges outlined in the report are the susceptibility of SBA’s economic relief programs like the Paycheck Protection Program to fraud risks and vulnerabilities and the reliability of contracting goal achievements being undermined by inaccurate procurement data and eligibility concerns in small business contracting initiatives.

SBA said it implemented fraud and eligibility controls and made corrective actions to help mitigate fraud in PPP, including the development and implementation of Master Review Plan outlining guidelines for loan and forgiveness reviews; creation and execution of SBA and contractor’s fraud risk management policy and framework; adoption of machine learning to focus on areas of higher risk; and launch of training and outreach efforts.

Other performance challenge areas that need improvement are information technology investment system development and security controls; risk management and oversight practices; management of Section 8(a) business development program; identification of improper payments in loan programs; grants management system; and disaster assistance program.

For the IT aspect, SBA has made progress in the protection of personal identifiable information and automated security control testing but still needs improvement in risk management and configuration management controls. The agency should also update its hardware and software inventories and authorizations to operate for IT systems.

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Senate Panel’s Defense Spending Bill to Raise Pentagon’s FY 2022 Budget by $24B
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Senate Panel’s Defense Spending Bill to Raise Pentagon’s FY 2022 Budget by $24B

The Senate Appropriations Committee has proposed a bill that would increase the Department of Defense’s budget by $24 billion for fiscal year 2022 to advance artificial intelligence, machine learning and other technologies, improve infrastructure and facilities across the service branches and develop capabilities to counter Chinese threats, Breaking Defense reported Monday.

The bill would provide $17.9 billion for the U.S. Space Force to help fund its military personnel, acquisition and operations accounts and $2.5 billion in funds to support the development of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s missile tracking capabilities, Marine Corps Force Design 2030 efforts and Homeland Defense Radar-Hawaii and Guam Defense System as part of efforts to counter China.

The measure would fund a $500 million program to ramp up use of AI at combatant commands and provide $1.6 billion in additional funds to support facilities and infrastructure sustainment efforts.

The Senate panel’s defense spending bill also includes $1.8 billion for 16 C-130J planes for the Air National Guard; $1.7 billion for another DDG-51 destroyer; and $1 billion to meet “urgent requirements” for Israel’s Iron Dome platform.

Space Acquisition Forum

GovCon Wire will hold its Space Acquisition Forum on Jan. 19th. Click here to register for the virtual forum to hear from defense officials as they share their insights on military acquisition reform and modernization efforts.

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Army Looks to Equip Military Vehicles With 3D Map of the World
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Army Looks to Equip Military Vehicles With 3D Map of the World

The U.S. Army aims to incorporate a 3D map that contains terrain datasets into its future vehicles to serve as an alternative positioning, navigation and timing source for soldiers who operate in areas where GPS connectivity is limited or jammed, Breaking Defense reported Monday.

The military service is working with Maxar Technologies‘ Vricon subsidiary to develop the One World Terrain for use in training, simulation and multidomain operations under a potential $94.7 million other transaction agreement.

Joe Parsons, a member of the Army’s Synthetic Training Environment Cross Functional Team, said the branch uses the OWT tool in preliminary Robotic Combat Vehicle experiments.

A QinetiQ North America-Pratt Miller alliance developed the RCV Light model and a Textron-Howe&Howe partnership built RCV Medium variant as part of separate OTAs awarded in 2020.

Brig. Gen. William Glaser, director of STE-CFT, told an audience at the Association of the United States Army’s event last week that the service is also examining the potential application of such capability to the Department of Defense’s Joint All Domain Command and Control strategy.

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NTT DATA Introduces Empowered Work Initiative for Hybrid Workplace Integration, Improved Employee Experience; Eric Clark Quoted
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NTT DATA Introduces Empowered Work Initiative for Hybrid Workplace Integration, Improved Employee Experience; Eric Clark Quoted

NTT DATA has launched its Empowered Work initiative to modernize its employee experience through an ecosystem of tools aimed to create a more efficient, sustainable, collaborative and accessible workplace. 

Empowered Work aims to leverage human-centered design, AI, automation and analytics technologies to guide the company’s clients and employees in the adoption and implementation of hybrid workplace strategies and best practices, the company said Monday.

The new initiative was created in response to a growing demand for improved customer and employee experiences, secure anytime/anywhere workspaces and increased collaboration capabilities as employers work to unify a workforce that is increasingly dispersed.

“We believe employers have an increasing responsibility to look out for the whole person. NTT DATA is on a mission to empower our workforce and clients as they go from the great resignation to the great transformation,” said NTT DATA’s Chief Digital and Strategy Officer, Eric Clark.

As part of the Empowered Work initiative, NTT DATA will take a holistic view of digital and consulting services to advance companies’ digital transformation objectives and create an innovative, modern work environment for their employees.

Additionally, NTT DATA plans to build “smart-space” hubs in major cities such as Boston, Washington D.C. and New York where employees and clients have access to multi-screen dynamic collaboration tools, a virtual receptionist and room scheduling services in support of both in-person and virtual collaborative work environments.

Recently, NTT DATA launched a Smart Back to Work Application designed to help federal agencies comply with new COVID-19 safety protocols and vaccination requirements.

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