“A March 22 memo from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget encouraged agencies to consider alternative methods of authentication in case of an extended telework period caused by the new coronavirus.”
“The guidance comes as federal networks are strained and employees in headquarters reduced as the federal government makes adjustments to ensure its workforce remains safe from exposure to COVID-19.”
“The guidance works to address the potential that agencies will be unable to issue new personal identity verification (PIV) cards in case of an extended telework period. In the FAQ section of the memo, OMB encouraged agencies to work with it and the General Services Administration to ‘resolve any issues’ with issuing PIV cards…”
“The guidance from OMB was praised by Sean Frazier, federal advisory chief information security officer at Cisco’s Duo Security, a multi-authentication platform…”
“The increase in telework provides great risk for federal networks outside of the authentication. Experts told Fifth Domain that users are more susceptible to spear-phishing attacks and that the difficulty of pushing security patches increases. Experts also warned about people performing official business on personal devices…” Read the full article here.
Source: White House urges agencies to implement new authentication methods amid telework – By Andrew Eversden, March 23, 2020. Fifth Domain.
