“If federal agencies were constantly on guard the past several years, as cyber-attacks grew in intensity and effectiveness, the past several months of the pandemic has dumped fuel on that fire of fear and paranoia.”
“’We get probed and challenged every day,’ said James Gfrerer, assistant secretary for Information and Technology and chief information officer for the Department of Veterans Affairs, on Federal Monthly Insights – Secure Remote Workforce…”
“As the pandemic-driven stampede to telework began, the VA nearly tripled its work-from-home employees.”
“’We ended up leveling out at about 140,000. It was our high water mark,’ Gfrerer said. ‘One of the interesting things is, for IT folks, you rarely if ever get the opportunity or demand to test in your production environments.’”
“So with no time to spare, VA put its internet connection gateways through stress tests, pushing all of one day’s traffic through one gateway. The line was rated to handle 35,000 to 40,000 and they were pushing 40,000 through…”
“Gfrerer sang the praises of his vendor partners, the carriers and infrastructure providers, as well as those at the data centers…” Read the full article here.
Source: VA not resting on laurels after nearly tripling and securing remote workforce – By Peter Musurlian, August 6, 2020. Federal News Network.
