Author Archive
Joseph Marks
Senior Correspondent
Joseph Marks covers cybersecurity for Nextgov. He previously covered cybersecurity for Politico, intellectual property for Bloomberg BNA and federal litigation for Law360. He covered government technology for Nextgov during an earlier stint at the publication and began his career at Midwestern newspapers covering everything under the sun. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and a master’s in international affairs from Georgetown University.
Policy
Pentagon, DHS Spell Out How They’ll Cooperate on Cyber Defense
The memorandum of understanding comes after the Defense Department prepared to help the Homeland Security Department repel Election Day cyberattacks.
- Joseph Marks
Science & Tech
Pentagon Researchers Test 'Worst-Case Scenario' Attack on US Power Grid
Over 100 people gathered off the tip of Long Island this month to roleplay a cyberattack that takes out the U.S. electric grid for weeks on end.
- Joseph Marks
Threats
There’s No Sign China’s Trying to Hack the 2018 Vote, Says DHS Secretary
Last week, Trump said the opposite.
- Joseph Marks
Threats
US Voting Systems Have ‘Staggering’ Vulnerabilities: Cyber Researchers
The report from DEF CON’s Voting Village found one bug that alone could flip the Electoral College. Another has gone unfixed for 11 years.
- Joseph Marks
Threats
DHS Secretary Urges Hit-Back-Harder Response to Cyber Strikes
That muscular response strategy may sow confusion and risk escalation, a cyber law scholar says.
- Joseph Marks
Business
DHS Is Reshaping Federal Cybersecurity with a $1 Billion Contract
Booz Allen will protect six agencies in its largest-ever government job.
- Joseph Marks
Threats
Government’s Getting Faster at Sharing Unclassified Cyber Threat Indicators
It’s also becoming rarer that an intelligence agency refuses to release a threat indicator entirely, a DHS official said.
- Joseph Marks
Science & Tech
Mike Pence’s Cybersecurity Speech, Annotated
The vice president delivered a fiery campaign-style cybersecurity speech at a Homeland Security cyber conference Tuesday. Here’s an explainer.
- Joseph Marks
Policy
DHS Creates Cyber Risk Center to Protect High-Value Targets
The center will free up NCCIC to work on cyber threat sharing and incident response, officials say.
- Joseph Marks
Science & Tech
Pentagon Wants to Move Some Cyber Defense Operations to the Cloud
The Defense Department’s considering a cloud extension of its Acropolis system, which it describes as “where we fight” in cyberspace.
- Joseph Marks
Science & Tech
China Likely Knew about Spectre and Meltdown Bugs Before the US
Fixing hardware and software vulnerabilities requires global information sharing—and that includes U.S. cyber adversaries.
- Joseph Marks
Science & Tech
The Pentagon Wants to Automate Some Classification Decisions
The proposed software would help defense officials make classification decisions and automatically enforce them.
- Joseph Marks
Ideas
You Should Be ‘Significantly Concerned’ There’s No White House Cyber Coordinator, Policy Experts Say
They also worry we’re going the wrong way on integrating government cyber operations.
- Joseph Marks
Ideas
Banning Software Won't Keep the Government Safe, Says Nuclear Security Agency Official
Rather than banning software from China or Russia, the U.S. government should focus on reducing the danger any particular app can pose.
- Joseph Marks
Ideas
Only 6 Non-Federal Groups Are Sharing Cyber Threat Data with DHS
A 2016 law intended to bolster collective cyber defense isn’t attracting private-sector participants.
- Joseph Marks
Threats
Cyber Researchers Don’t Think Feds or Congress Can Protect Against Cyberattacks
Only 15 percent of cyber researchers think the U.S. can defend against a critical infrastructure cyberattack, according to a survey.
- Joseph Marks
Ideas
Most Major US Agencies Are Now Feeding the Federal Cyber Threat Dashboard
So far, 20 of 23 major agencies are plugged into the dashboard. The last three should be on by the end of July.
- Joseph Marks
Policy
Here’s How That $380 Million in Election Security Funding Is Being Spent
State election officials are mostly using new election security money to shore up the basics.
- Joseph Marks
Policy
Senate Defense Bill Aims to Scrub Cyber Adversaries from US Military Tech
The bill would require companies to disclose if they’d shared source code with foreign governments.
- Joseph Marks
Science & Tech
The Pentagon Has a Big Plan to Solve Identity Verification in Two Years
The plan grew out of efforts to modernize the Defense Department’s ID cards.
- Joseph Marks