Ever to Conquer – Week of October 27, 2025

🎙️ Podcast Spotlight
Ever to Conquer with Bradon Rogers

Bradon Rogers breaks down the role of the Chief Customer Officer and why it’s essential for the public sector. He shares how centering customers - not systems - drives better outcomes, stronger trust, and real transformation across government.

Watch it here on YouTube

📰 Top Stories This Week

1) Emergency Cyber Order: Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) mandates patching of F5 Networks security products across federal civilian agencies within a week after a major supply-chain breach.

• Why it matters: The move highlights the speed at which federal IT risk can shift - and how supply-chain vulnerabilities are now mission-critical. (Wall Street Journal)
• Actionable: Agencies should review their third-party risk inventories (especially around infrastructure vendors), accelerate remediation plans, and incorporate breach scenarios into program timelines.

2) Cyber-Info-Sharing Law Expires Amid Shut-down: The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015 (CISA 2015) has lapsed, raising worries about the future of private-sector and government threat-sharing.

• Why it matters: This law provides key legal protections for private organizations that share cyber-threat data with the federal government. Its expiration could reduce voluntary sharing and hamper resilience. (Reuters+1)
• Actionable: Agencies and vendors alike should assess their threat-sharing frameworks, update contracts and MOUs accordingly, and monitor upcoming congressional action for implications on compliance and cooperation.

3) Higher Ed Push-back: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Rejects Federal Funding Deal in Defence of Autonomy

• Summary: MIT has become the first university to say no to the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education - a federal proposal linking institutional reforms to preferential funding. MIT’s leadership raised concerns about academic freedom and institutional independence. (AP News+3Wall Street Journal+3The Times of India+3)
• Why it matters: Signals a growing tension between funding conditions and autonomy in higher ed - important for governments, vendors and institutions alike as compliance, governance and mission-alignment interweave.
• Actionable: Institutions should audit funding deals, understand implications of governance mandates; vendors to align offerings with institutional independence and transparency.

🚀 Innovative Company on Our Radar

Island.io - Helping organizations secure, monitor and control the modern enterprise browser, putting governance and work-system visibility right where the user is active (the web).

📅 Upcoming Ecosystem Events