DHS CISO, Deputy CISO Exit Amid Reported IT Leadership Overhaul
The Department of Homeland Security is replacing its top cyber leaders, with Chief Information Security Officer Hemant Baidwan departing later this month and Deputy CISO Amanda Day leaving at February’s end. Their exits are part of a broader IT realignment overseen by DHS CIO Antoine McCord, who is positioning headquarters staff in component agency CIO roles. Similar shake‑ups are occurring at FEMA, CISA and other DHS components, creating a wave of leadership turnover. The changes come as the agency faces heightened cyber‑threats linked to ongoing Middle‑East conflicts.
‘Unmet Needs’ Persist in Tribal Broadband Despite Progress, Report Finds
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has pushed forward reforms and awarded $6.5 million to nine Tribal applicants as part of the $3 billion Tribal Broadband Connectivity Program (TBCP) funded by the 2021 infrastructure law. A new Urban Institute report, however,...
Robotics Ethicist Calls for Stronger US Guardrails as Automation Accelerates
Robotics ethicist Kate Darling warned that U.S. policy is falling behind the rapid deployment of automation in warehouses and factories. She argued that profit-driven decisions, not technical capability, will shape the future of work unless stronger regulatory guardrails are introduced....
Scotland Explores Non-Biometric IDV for ScotAccount
Scotland’s ScotAccount digital identity platform is broadening verification beyond biometrics by introducing knowledge‑based verification (KBV) and tapping alternative public‑sector data sources. Existing alternatives such as landline‑based two‑factor authentication for older users, the Young Scot NEC, and a CivTech‑sponsored vouching pilot already...
MISMO Releases VA, FHA Form Standards for Industry Use
The Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO) has elevated the data mapping for VA Form 26‑1820 and the HUD FHA Addendum to candidate recommendation status, making standardized XML datasets available for industry use. The VA mapping translates the loan disbursement report...
Florida House Passes Bill to Relaunch mDL Program
Florida’s House of Representatives approved HB 543, a sweeping transportation package that includes provisions to revive the state’s mobile driver’s license (mDL) program. The bill, passed 107‑1, introduces strict data‑privacy safeguards, limiting how businesses can use digital ID information and requiring...
Fourthline, GLEIF and AU10TIX Appoint New C-Suite Leaders
The digital‑identity market is reshaping its leadership as Fourthline, GLEIF and AU10TIX announce new C‑suite appointments. Fourthline named Paul Stoddart CEO to drive geographic and vertical expansion amid the upcoming EU AMLR. GLEIF created a combined Chief Operating and Financial...
Better Weather Forecasts, Disaster Reviews the Goal of New Federal Bills
Congress is advancing two bills to strengthen the nation’s weather forecasting and disaster response capabilities amid staffing and budget cuts at NOAA and the National Weather Service. Rep. Eric Sorensen’s National Weather Safety Board Act would create an independent board,...
New York State Does the Work on Behavioral Health Interoperability
New York State’s Office of Mental Health launched a hybrid semantic‑interoperability framework that leverages HL7 FHIR, SNOMED CT, ICD‑10 and the Gravity Project to unify data across 22 critical‑time‑intervention (CTI) teams. The solution reconciled six to seven disparate EMR sources, converting...
MDOT MTA Aims to Improve On-Time Performance by Empowering Bus Operators with Real-Time Information
MDOT MTA partnered with Swiftly to equip bus operators with the Onboard App, delivering real‑time schedule comparisons via GPS‑enabled tablets. A 15‑day pilot in late 2025 boosted on‑time performance by 25 % and cut early arrivals by 37 %. The agency targets...
Boston Fed Touts FedNow
The Boston Federal Reserve is championing FedNow, its real‑time payments platform, to draw more banks into instant‑payment services. A forthcoming Fed survey shows nine in ten consumers would increase bank usage if instant payments were offered, while 55% reported overdraft...
Congress Looks to Revive Critical Cyber Program for Rural Electric Utilities
The House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously passed a bipartisan package that reauthorizes the Rural and Municipal Utility Advanced Cybersecurity program and adds $250 million in grants over five years. The legislation targets underfunded rural electric cooperatives, giving them federal assistance...
Shanghai Launches Cross-Border Digital Authentication for Foreign Business Registration
Shanghai has rolled out a cross‑border digital identity platform that enables foreign firms, starting with Singaporean investors, to register online. The new system replaces paper‑heavy notarisation with distributed identifiers, verifiable credentials and blockchain checks, shrinking registration time from a week...
Op-Ed: Transit Tunnel Lighting Standards Need to Catch Up
U.S. transit tunnels, many built before modern fire‑safety codes, rely on NFPA 130 emergency lighting standards that set a minimal 0.25 foot‑candle illumination. Recent incidents—from the 2015 WMATA smoke event to the 2024 BART fire—exposed the inadequacy of these low‑level requirements,...
Cyber Profession Plans Unveiled
The UK government has launched a dedicated cyber profession, jointly overseen by the National Cyber Security Centre and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. The initiative creates a Cyber Resourcing Hub and a career framework aligned with UK Cyber...
ProPublica Wins Lawsuit Over Access to Court Records in U.S. Navy Cases
A federal judge ruled that the U.S. Navy must provide public access to all non‑classified court‑martial records and preliminary hearing documents. The decision follows ProPublica’s 2022 lawsuit alleging First Amendment violations by the Navy’s secrecy policies. The order requires transcripts...
Digital Health and Care Wales Seeks £5 Million Intelligent Audit Solution
Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW) has launched a £4.9 million procurement for a National Intelligent Integrated Audit Solution to monitor user access across the NHS Wales single patient record, clinical applications and data repositories. The cloud‑based platform must ingest audit...
FedNow Pushes FEMA Disaster Aid From Days to Seconds
The Federal Reserve’s FedNow service now powers FEMA’s disaster‑relief payouts, moving funds from days or weeks to seconds. Transaction limits have been raised to $10 million, enabling large‑scale disbursements directly to states, municipalities and households. This capability is part of a...
Network International Seals Deals to Streamline Digital Payments in Egypt, Libya
Network International announced two strategic deals to deepen its footprint in North Africa. In Libya, it partnered with Al Seraj Islamic Bank to deliver an end‑to‑end digital payments platform, Visa sponsorship and prepaid issuing capabilities. In Egypt, the firm enabled...
Shared Services Strategy Set to Under Perform
The National Audit Office warns that the UK Government’s Shared Services Strategy is unlikely to meet its £1 billion savings target due to governance flaws, funding uncertainty, and IT integration problems. The programme, intended to standardise finance, payroll and HR across...
NHS England Urges Patients to Use App Notifications
NHS England launched a “Tap the NHS App” campaign urging patients to enable push notifications for appointment reminders. A Censuswide survey found 12% of respondents forgot appointments and 11% arrived late, amounting to an estimated 16 million missed GP visits in...
Capita Win Long-Term Deal to Manage Synergy Shared Services
Capita has been awarded the £370 million Synergy Business Process Services contract, a multi‑department deal covering the Department for Work and Pensions, Ministry of Justice, Home Office and Defra. The agreement, spanning up to ten years with optional extensions, will see...
City of London Corporate Seeks Future Ready Partner
The City of London Corporation has launched a £2.4 million Future Ready Programme aimed at building a financially sustainable, digitally enabled organization. It is seeking a strategic partner to guide project management, R&D, consultancy and public‑relations services. Suppliers must complete an...
How the Iran War Could Impact States and Localities
Pro‑Iranian hacktivists have begun targeting U.S. entities after the U.S.–Israeli strikes on Iran, including a Pennsylvania township and Amazon Web Services data centers in the Middle East. The attacks are largely low‑level—website defacements, DDoS and SQL injections—but could cascade into...
Protecting the Electricity Grid Is Crucial for National Security
The sponsor‑generated column from Hitachi Energy argues that protecting the United States electricity grid is a matter of national security. It highlights growing cyber and physical threats that could destabilize critical infrastructure and the economy. The piece promotes modernizing the...
HMRC Agrees £200k Extension for Desk-Monitoring Tool as It Works on Long-Term ‘Strategic Solution’
HM Revenue and Customs has approved a six‑figure, £218,000 extension to its OccupEye desk‑occupancy sensor contract with FM:Systems, covering three offices for an additional year with a possible second year. The extension buys time while HMRC develops a long‑term, cloud‑based...
Q&A: Tech and Policy Intersect in Education Savings Accounts
Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) are expanding as states seek flexible schooling options. Odyssey provides a digital‑wallet platform that processes applications, payments, and vendor vetting for ESA programs, now handling Texas’ $1 billion TEFA rollout—the largest in U.S. history. The system offers...
Singapore Strengthens Technology and Innovation Leadership
At the 2026 Committee of Supply, Singapore pledged SG$800 million to launch a semiconductor RIE Flagship, SG$60 million for a National Semiconductor Translation and Innovation Centre, and another SG$800 million for a Decarbonisation Grand Challenge. A*STAR will spearhead these programmes alongside the Economic...
Back to Books? Key Takeaways From NTIA Listening Sessions
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) held public listening sessions on Feb. 11 and Feb. 18 to discuss how to use unspent funds from the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program. Analysts at Kaptivate compiled the comments, highlighting strong...
The Philippines: Building Responsible Digital Citizenship in Bulacan
Students from Bulacan Agricultural State College joined the Kilos Kabataan: Unite for a Digital Safe Future virtual forum, organized by the Philippine Information Agency and DICT Central Luzon. The event addressed misinformation, cyberbullying, scams and other online threats, emphasizing fact‑checking,...
Malaysia: AI Sensors Improve Pedestrian Safety in Subang Jaya
The Subang Jaya City Council has launched SENSA, an AI‑driven pedestrian safety system, at a school crossing in the city. The solution combines analytical cameras, sensors, audio warnings and blue LED lights to alert drivers and pedestrians in real time....
Medicare Claims Processing Modernization Gains Urgency at CMS
The U.S. Department of Government Efficiency is pushing CMS to replace the decades‑old COBOL‑based Medicare claims system with a real‑time, cloud‑native platform. CMS issued an RFI in January seeking vendors capable of supporting at least two million members and processing...
IT Vendor Payments Under Investigation at North Kansas City Schools
North Kansas City School District uncovered $630,000 in payments to an IT vendor that may have been for fictitious consulting services. The payments, $9,000 per month from fiscal 2020 through 2025, were approved by an employee who failed to disclose...
What Is Continuous Threat Exposure Management? A Risk-Driven Approach for State and Local Agencies
Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) is emerging as a risk‑driven framework for state and local governments, shifting focus from sheer vulnerability counts to business‑impact exposure. CDW outlines a five‑stage process—scoping, discovery, prioritization, validation, and mobilization—that integrates asset inventory, threat data,...
New Jersey County Says Malware Attack Took Down Phone Lines, IT Systems
Passaic County, New Jersey, confirmed a malware attack that knocked out its phone lines and crippled county IT systems on March 5, 2026. The county is collaborating with federal and state authorities to contain and investigate the breach. This incident...
Strength in Numbers: Nonprofit Launches Consortium to Improve Public Health Data and Outcomes
The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) announced a new public‑health data consortium, partnering with Veritas Data Research and HealthVerity to create a secure data exchange for state and territorial health agencies. The effort seeks to integrate real‑world...
Boulder Valley Schools, Colo., Ban ChatGPT for Students
Boulder Valley School District blocked ChatGPT on all student devices and Wi‑Fi after safety concerns about group chats, multimedia generation, and inadequate age verification. The district is promoting MagicSchool AI, a teacher‑approved platform with built‑in guardrails. The ban received backing from...
Sierra Space and Vast Detail Their Series C Investment Rounds
Sierra Space closed a $550 million Series C round, lifting its valuation to roughly $8 billion and marking a strategic pivot toward national‑security satellite programs. The funding will support new product development and expanded production capacity, including contracts worth up to $1.19 billion with...
New $250M W.Va. Gas Pipeline Set to Begin Construction
West Virginia officials announced a privately funded $250 million Hope Gas natural‑gas pipeline in Mason County. The 30‑mile, 24‑inch line will break ground in April 2026 and finish by year‑end, delivering fuel to the Monarch Compute Campus. The campus aims to...
Ukrainian Customs Officers Complete Advanced Scanner Maintenance Training in the UK
Six Ukrainian customs officers completed a week‑long advanced maintenance course at the Rapiscan Systems factory in the United Kingdom. The training, part of the EU‑funded EU4IBM‑Resilience project, focused on preventive maintenance, troubleshooting and component replacement for mobile cargo scanners. It...
Oklahoma Lawmakers Move to Protect Ratepayers From Effects of Data Centers
Oklahoma House Bill 2992 aims to shield residential electricity bills by requiring new large‑load customers—such as data centers, cryptocurrency miners and AI computing facilities—to negotiate their own power contracts and provide collateral for infrastructure costs. The measure, which passed the...
Experts Find Holes in Planned Changes to EU Landmark Online Privacy Law
A new noyb survey of 500 data‑protection officers shows a stark mismatch between the EU Commission’s proposed "digital omnibus" tweaks to the GDPR and the practical needs of compliance professionals. The study highlights dissent over easing the Right‑to‑Access request process,...
“If You Wanted to Have Civil Disobedience and Start the Process of Unraveling a Society, We're a Pretty Big Target”:...
National Gas, the operator of the UK’s critical gas transmission network, has partnered with Palo Alto Networks to secure its cloud‑first transformation. The collaboration delivers a full‑stack security stack covering network firewalls, Prisma Cloud, and emerging XDR capabilities while preserving...
How States Use Purpose-Driven Innovation and AI to Improve Accuracy in Public Programs
State governments are rapidly integrating AI, but success depends on purpose‑driven deployment rather than novelty. Agencies align AI projects with clear goals such as improving benefit accuracy, boosting efficiency, and restoring public confidence, while adhering to strict security and accountability...
Texas FD Responses to some Rural Calls in Jeopardy as Funding Dispute Grows
Sherman Fire Rescue responded to roughly 600 calls in unincorporated Grayson County in 2025, a service currently funded through a city‑county contract. The contract costs the city about $30,000 per month, but a voter‑rejected sales‑tax measure has left the county...
HHS Launches Cybersecurity Module Within RISC 2.0 Toolkit
The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) has added a cybersecurity module to its Risk Identification and Site Criticality (RISC) 2.0 Toolkit, giving health systems a standardized way to assess cyber risk. The module uses a questionnaire scored against the...
Intertraffic: Umovity to Showcase Integrated Mobility Solutions
Umovity, the joint brand of Econolite and PTV Group, will unveil integrated mobility solutions at Intertraffic Amsterdam 2026. The company presents a Mobility Operating System that unites planning, simulation, real‑time operations, analytics and optimisation into a continuous decision‑making loop. Highlights...
Palantir’s £250m Government Deal ‘Represents a Vote of Confidence in the UK’, Minister Says
Palantir secured a £240 million contract extension with the UK Ministry of Defence, citing an “absence of competition” for technical reasons. The firm also eyes a potential £500 million NHS Federated Data Platform deal, expanding its footprint in health and defence. Security...
Treasury Taps Tech Firms to Advise on Public Sector AI Adoption
HM Treasury has set up an advisory panel that includes IBM, Faculty AI and the Tony Blair Institute to accelerate artificial intelligence adoption across government departments. The group will evaluate existing AI pilots, recommend scaling strategies, and feed insights into...
Suffolk and North East Essex ICB Publishes £5.2 Million Contract for GP IT
Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board has issued a £5.2 million contract to modernise GP IT systems in line with the Primary Care Digital Services Model. The three‑year agreement, starting 1 December 2026, can be extended to 2031 and requires a...