NIST SP 800-53 provides a broad catalog of security controls for federal agencies, while NIST SP 800-171 focuses on protecting Controlled Unclassified Information in non-federal environments. The 800-171 standard draws from 800-53 but defines a more focused set of requirements for organizations handling CUI. Security teams must identify which systems process CUI to determine the…
The Guam Department of Education received unmodified opinions on its fiscal 2025 financial statements from Ernst & Young LLP. Despite the clean opinion, auditors identified $9.3 million in questioned federal costs and multiple internal control weaknesses. The department remains a high-risk grantee designated by the U.S. Department of Education for 23 years. The audit also…
Deesha Philyaw discusses how she transformed a low-stakes draft of her debut novel into a compelling story by increasing what her protagonist stands to lose. She explains that adding a high-profile marriage and a pageant competition created meaningful consequences for the character. Philyaw also highlights the importance of adjusting the timeline and giving characters flaws…
The federal government spent $1.143 trillion on net interest in fiscal 2026, an 11 percent increase from the previous year. This amount exceeds spending on the Defense Department and Medicare, with only Social Security costing more. Total public debt reached $40.31 trillion by 8 October, placing it approximately $800 billion below the current statutory limit….
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned security teams to urgently fix a high-severity authentication bypass in Ivanti Connect Secure. Tracked as CVE-2026-104935, the vulnerability has been exploited in the wild since at least October 1st, allowing remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands without user interaction. Ivanti released updated versions on Tuesday to address…
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration rated the IRS information security program ineffective for the second consecutive year in a report dated September 15, 2026. The watchdog found that six of seven sampled systems had critical vulnerabilities that were not fixed within the required 30-day window. Additionally, 841 privileged service accounts across 313 systems…
The Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General issued a sources sought notice for annual financial statement and FISMA audits. The agency is conducting market research to identify qualified firms for future task orders. Responses are due by November 9, 2026, and must be submitted via email. Firms must hold a current Top Secret…
Chris Butera, acting executive assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA, discussed how the agency is preparing federal systems for AI-fueled threats. CISA issued a binding operational directive requiring agencies to patch the highest risk vulnerabilities within three days starting in December. The agency is also supporting the Gold Eagle program to manage the surge in…
The National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have finalized a publication titled Protecting Tokens and Assertions from Forgery, Theft, and Misuse. This document provides implementation guidelines to help organizations maintain the security of tokens used in digital systems. It addresses the requirements set by Executive Order 14306 and…
OpenAI has launched the Agents API in public beta, providing all developers with access to the infrastructure powering Codex and ChatGPT. The service includes hosted sandboxes and multi-agent support without additional fees, requiring payment only for tokens and tools used. Nine partners, including Cloudflare and Vercel, joined the launch to offer various compute environments. The…