Trump nominates acting EPA head, an ex-coal lobbyist, to run agency

Reuters | January 09, 2019

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday nominated acting EPA chief Andrew Wheeler to run the agency permanently, the White House said, placing a former energy lobbyist at the helm of the nation’s top environmental regulator. The widely anticipated nomination provides Trump another avid supporter of his deregulatory and pro-fossil fuels agenda, but without the constant criticism over alleged mismanagement that plagued Wheeler’s predecessor, Scott Pruitt.

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EMERGING TECHNOLOGY, CYBERSECURITY

Cynamics, Pioneer of Sample-based Network Detection and Response, Partners with Merlin Cyber to Meet Increasing Demand from US Federal Government

Prnewswire | April 20, 2023

Cynamics, the AI-driven cybersecurity company, is partnering with Merlin Cyber to bring its novel, sample-based network detection and response (NDR) solution to the rapidly expanding US federal government market. A new subsidiary launched with Merlin, Cynamics Federal, will be wholly dedicated to bringing this NDR solution to the federal market, helping US government agencies safeguard critical and sensitive information from ever-growing threats. Working closely with US government agencies, Cynamics last month identified a new range of critical vulnerabilities within current protection layers. These findings, along with Cynamics' state-of-the-art proven NDR technologies, will be showcased at the RSA conference on April 24-27 in San Francisco. "Cynamics has already been working closely with government agencies across the US, and we are excited to introduce our low-touch, built-for-scale NDR solution to the federal government in cooperation with Merlin Cyber," said Eyal Elyashiv, CEO and Founder of Cynamics. Analogous to the accuracy of taking a blood sample, Cynamics' cloud-based solution collects less than 1% of network flow samples and uses its AI technologies to provide 100% network coverage and threat prediction for any network size and environment. Recently, Gartner highlighted Cynamics as an NDR "emerging vendor" leveraging packet sampling as a new data-collection approach. This unique method discovers network blind spots, exposes potential backdoors, identifies anomalous behavior, and enables quick and straightforward remediation. According to Elyashiv, no other solution currently has this capability while being built-to-scale for the US federal government and the largest and most complicated networks in the world. The solution is deployed in a frictionless way within minutes, without installing a single appliance or agent, and begins to deliver valuable insights within hours from onboarding, using only network metadata and without collecting, processing, or analyzing any sensitive or private information, which is a key advantage for the federal audience. This vastly reduces supply chain vulnerabilities. Cynamics has hundreds of clients across the public and private sectors, of different domains, sizes, and geographies. Deep cyber expertise is not required to use and manage the solution, which makes the technology easier for government agencies to deploy. Casting light on a little-known vulnerability, Elyashiv said that the fact that legacy mDNS (multicast DNS) and LLMNR (Link-Local Multicast Name Resolution) are used to resolve hostnames to IP addresses, by sending highly vulnerable multicast messages across local networks, enabled sophisticated attackers to map out the networks and infect them more effectively. "Cynamics' solution offers state-of-the-art protection quickly and with surgical precision for the most valuable assets in our network," said Jad Al-Bijaly, Information Technology and Cybersecurity Manager for Guilford County, North Carolina, a trusted Cynamics customer. Other customers include the cities of Rocky Mount, Urbandale, Saratoga Springs, and others. According to Gartner, in 2022, "the industries with the most interest in NDR continued to be the government and finance industries." Having generated more than $4 billion in contracts to date, Merlin Cyber partners with industry-recognized companies as well as startups, seeing them through all stages of their development and go-to-market execution. Merlin Ventures, the investment arm of Merlin Group, invests most of its capital in startups from Israel, a global hub of innovation in the cybersecurity sector, accelerating them from seed to scale. "The partnership with Cynamics reflects Merlin's commitment to providing a gateway for the most promising global cybersecurity startups to help protect America's critical digital infrastructure," said Seth Spergel, Managing Partner of Merlin Ventures. "We've been tracking the success of Cynamics and are proud to join as both an investor and a partner in helping to bring their solutions to market. Their AI-based network detection and response solution is unique and ideal for how large government networks are architected." About Merlin Cyber Merlin Cyber is the go-to-market arm of Merlin Group, a powerful ecosystem of cybersecurity investment, technical expertise, and partner growth acceleration with 25 years of experience working with the US government. Through Merlin Cyber, federal civilian, defense, state, local and education customers access innovative, public sector-ready cybersecurity solutions that meet government requirements and mission priorities. Merlin does this by selectively partnering with best-in-class cybersecurity brands, investing in visionary emerging technologies, accelerating partner growth, and enabling the US government to successfully keep ahead of today's critical threats, accelerate modernization initiatives, and defend our nation. Learn more at merlincyber.com About Cynamics Cynamics is the only Next Generation (NG) Cloud Network Detection and Response (NDR) solution on the market today using standard sampling protocols built-in to every gateway, patented algorithms, as well as AI and Machine Learning, to provide threat prediction and visibility at speed and scale. Built to protect networks of all sizes and complexity, its highly scalable approach discovers threats missed by competitors and provides clients and partners with an elite defense against cyberattacks, with little-to-no burden on their resources. To learn more visit: https://www.cynamics.ai/

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EMERGING TECHNOLOGY, GOVERNMENT BUSINESS

Verint and Carahsoft Partner to Deliver Digital-First Citizen Engagement Solutions to Federal, State and Local Governments across the U.S.

Carahsoft | March 17, 2023

Verint® (NASDAQ: VRNT), The Customer Engagement Company®, today announced its partnership with Carahsoft Technology Corp., The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider®. Under the agreement Carahsoft will serve as Verint’s Public Sector Distributor, making the company’s citizen engagement solutions available to the public sector through Carahsoft’s reseller partners, NASA Solutions for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) V and Information Technology Enterprise Solutions – Software 2 (ITES-SW2) contracts. “Government agencies are immersed in a worldwide trend to improve their digital IQ and citizen engagement as reliance on government websites and content continues to expand. Consequently, leading global brands are meeting consumers where they want, when they want, and citizens expect this same level of service from government agencies,” says Verint’s John Bourne, senior vice president, global channels and alliances. “Verint’s partnership with Carahsoft will help the public sector meet these challenges by extending the reach of our customer engagement solutions through Carahsoft’s extensive reseller network.” There are a number of government initiatives in place today that are driving the need for improved digital services and making citizen engagement a top priority. These include President Biden’s Executive Order #14058 (Transforming Customer Experience & Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government) which focuses on transforming federal customer experience and service delivery to rebuild trust in government; and the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) that simplifies security for the digital age by providing a standardized approach to security for the cloud. Verint solutions are FedRAMP Moderate/IL4 authorized, which comes on the heels of more than 20 years helping hundreds of agencies and departments around the world measure and improve citizen satisfaction. “Forward-thinking government and public sector agencies are continually improving their customer engagement tools to provide a seamless digital experience for citizens,” said Michael Shrader, vice president of Intelligence and Innovative Solutions at Carahsoft. “With the addition of Verint to our Customer Experience and Engagement portfolio, agencies will be able to address various challenges, increase efficiency and promote rapid change across every citizen experience. We look forward to working with Verint and our reseller partners to help our joint customers deploy all the capabilities of the Verint Customer Engagement Platform.” The Verint Customer Engagement Platform helps organizations adapt and improve their operations in days, not months or years. It works across the organization, breaking down the barriers that exist between departments and operations. Verint technology enables people and bots to work together seamlessly from anywhere. The Verint Platform open architecture allows organizations to leverage existing investments in new ways. Verint solutions provide agencies with the data needed to surface and act on insights in real time to enhance customer experiences and efficiency, which ultimately drive continuous improvement. With Verint, organizations can create highly differentiated experiences, drive enduring relationships with their constituents and effectively navigate the disruption and constant change government agencies are experiencing. About Carahsoft Carahsoft Technology Corp. is The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider®, supporting Public Sector organizations across Federal, State and Local Government agencies and Education and Healthcare markets. As the Master Government Aggregator® for our vendor partners, we deliver solutions for Customer Experience, Cybersecurity, MultiCloud, DevSecOps, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Open Source, and more. Working with resellers, systems integrators and consultants, our sales and marketing teams provide industry leading IT products, services and training through hundreds of contract vehicles. About Verint Verint® (Nasdaq: VRNT) helps the world’s most iconic brands build enduring customer relationships by connecting work, data, and experiences across the enterprise. More than 10,000 organizations in 180 countries – including over 85 of the Fortune 100 companies – are using the Verint Customer Engagement Platform to draw on the latest advancements in AI, analytics, and an open cloud architecture to elevate customer experience.

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EMERGING TECHNOLOGY, GOVERNMENT BUSINESS

Maximus wins major UK government contract

Businesswire | May 29, 2023

Maximus, a leading provider of health, employment, and digital customer services globally, has been selected as the largest provider of the new Functional Assessment Services (FAS) contract, due to launch in 2024. The award maintains Maximus’ position as a leading provider of health assessments to the UK government. Since 2015 Maximus has been the only national provider of the Health Assessment Advisory Service on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions. Maximus transformed the assessment service, with waiting times significantly reduced and record customer satisfaction. From 2024, assessments will be delivered on a regional basis. Maximus will deliver across Scotland and Northern England, and as a delivery partner to Capita across the Midlands and Wales. The combined estimated value of the contracts, including subcontracting, is £800m/$1bn over five years, with the option to extend for a further two years. Dr Paul Williams, Division President of Maximus UK, said: “We are delighted to continue our partnership with DWP to deliver the next generation of health and disability assessments. We remain committed to working with stakeholders, including disabled people and their representative groups, to improve customer experience in the assessment process, delivering a sensitive, respectful and expert service to the millions of people who rely on these services to access financial support”. Bruce Caswell, President and Chief Executive Officer of Maximus, said: “This award continues our expansion in the UK market. With our strong track record of transforming services on behalf of government, and our strategic focus on the future of health services globally, we are proud to be working with DWP on the delivery of this important new service”. About Maximus in the UK Maximus delivers services that help more than 2 million people each year in the UK move forward with their lives. Operating from more than 285 locations, Maximus is one of the largest providers of employment, health, and digital customer services in the country. Maximus employs over 5,000 specialists, including more than 1,000 employment advisors and 1,400 doctors, nurses, occupational therapists and other Healthcare Professionals. We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader and Living Wage Employer.

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