Officials: DoD Bolstering Networks for Telework

The Department of Defense has been strengthening its networks and cyber hygiene amid the growing number of teleworking employees during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the agency's leaders. Secretary Mark Esper said the Pentagon is also ensuring that it has enough bandwidth to allow telework. Officials said that they have restricted applications used for music and video streaming to free up bandwidth for more important activities, C4ISRNET reported Wednesday. In the department's new guidelines, employees were also discouraged from social networking and personal shopping on government equipment. Information technology official Dana Deasy said the DoD is committed to protecting its networks for the health and benefit of its employees. Lisa Hershman, the department's chief management officer, had previously said the DoD conducted stress tests to maximize network utility.