Cybersecurity News
Top News
- 5 percent of federal workers to be furloughed Friday
- Congress pressures agencies to speed up office consolidations
- Katherine Archuleta chosen as next OPM director
- Data breach puts DHS workers at risk of identity theft
- DoD chooses interoperability over integration for new e-health record system
- House GOP panel moves on deep budget cuts
- OMB fuels synergy between mobile, open data
- IRS official Lerner: 'I did nothing wrong'
- Accountability breakdown leading factor in DoD sexual assaults
- OMB reworking financial system requirements
- Federal retirement funds temporarily tapped
- VanRoekel to lead OMB management team
- Meet the 2013 Service to America Medal finalists
- Thursday federal headlines - May 23, 2013
GOP lawmakers urge Obama to drop cyber executive order
Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate wrote to President Barack Obama urging him to not issue an executive order setting voluntary cybersecurity standards for private-sector operators of critical infrastructure.
Federal Drive Interviews -- Oct. 10, 2012
Denise Wu of Clifton Larson Allen explains how the Chief Financial Officers Council has moved the idea of a Statement of Spending to the front burner. Julian Pecquet of The Hill discusses the bitter partisan battle raging on Capitol Hill over last month's attack in Benghazi. Sharon Virts-Mozer, president and CEO of FCI Federal, details how some local businesses are thriving despite down economy and impending sequester.
Federal Drive Interviews -- Oct. 9, 2012
John Kasianowicz is the NIST project leader on a project coming up with a cheaper way to test DNA for possible illnesses. GAO's John Hutton says that few agencies are compiling inventories for their service contracts. Procurement attorney Joe Petrillo discusses a new inspector general's report. Dr. Harry Lambright of Syracuse University studied the effectiveness of two former federal officials. David Hall-Matthews talks about a ranking of nonprofits.
Influence of federal cyber workforce roadmap growing
Agencies and universities are refining job descriptions, revamping training and education programs and helping industry, academia and government to begin to reach consensus on the makeup of a modern-day cybersecurity workforce. The Office of Personnel Management also has made changes to personnel systems so that job descriptions map to the framework. The plan already has had in impact on cyber education at colleges and universities across the country.
US panel: China tech giants pose security threat
American companies should avoid doing business with China's two leading technology firms because they pose a national security threat to the United States, the House Intelligence Committee is warning in a report to be issued Monday.
DHS urged to hire 600 cyber ninjas
The Homeland Security Advisory Council Task Force on Cyberskills submitted 11 recommendations to the DHS secretary on how to improve the agency's cyber workforce. The committee said DHS must define the skills needed to protect .gov networks. It also suggested setting testing and certification standards.
New cybersecurity threat could revive legislation
Congress has a lot of unfinished business to tackle during its lame duck session expected in November. The House Intelligence Committee chairman thinks new threat information could push cyber legislation up the priority list.
OMB reemphasizes move to continuous monitoring in FISMA guidance
The annual reporting memo gives agencies 57 questions and answers as they prepare their 2012 cybersecurity report.
The State of the Cybersecurity Workforce
Cybersecurity affects every agency, program and employee, and has become an even greater challenge to manage as global networks become more susceptible to risk. Learn how agency CIO's can develop cyber strategies and support the desired goals to recruit, retain, and develop the cyber workforce amidst the growing talent gap. General Harry Raduege, Chairman, The Deloitte Center for Cyber Innovation, Deloitte Services LP and Michael Gelles, Director, Deloitte Consulting LLP weigh in on this timely discussion for cybersecurity month.
Federal Drive Interviews -- Oct. 2, 2012
Casey Coleman, CIO at the GSA, gives a preview of the 2012 Executive Leadership Conference. Lynn Bernabei, a partner with Bernabei and Watchel, discusses the House's sweeping update to the law protecting federal whistleblowers. Tom Fox of the Partnership for Public Service tells how managers can keep their workforce motivated in tough times. Miriam Nisbet of the National Archives discusses a new website aimed at speeding up the FOIA request process.
Funding boost gives DHS a head start in 2013 to fight cyber threats
The agency plans to release solicitations to help agencies implement sensors to detect threats, followed by industry-provided services to analyze them. Congress approved $183 million to begin in 2013 to help get continuous monitoring off the ground more quickly.
Pentagon struggles to secure a supply chain it no longer dominates
Congress has told the Pentagon to stem the tide of suspected counterfeit parts that ultimately end up in military technology systems. First though, DoD has to come to grips with the fact that it can't simply mandate change to an industrial base it once controlled.
White House testing approach called for in draft cyber order
The Energy and Homeland Security departments are working with companies in the electricity sector to come up with a baseline set of cybersecurity standards. Michael Daniel, the White House cyber coordinator, said the framework is making a difference in how owners and operators secure their networks. But Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said without liability protections expansion of these efforts isn't likely.
The 8th annual IT Security Automation Conference
Dave Waltermire, security automation architect, Computer Security Division, at NIST, will talk about the upcoming conference and security automaton.
September 25, 2012
The Accidental Insider Threat: Is Your Organization Ready?
Today, most organizations are keenly aware of deliberate insider threats that pose risk to their cybersecurity posture. But recently the internal threat has morphed. More than ever "accidental insiders" — sources of vulnerability who are not maliciously trying to cause harm, are unknowingly presenting major risks which can compromise an organization and its infrastructure. This panel sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton, will bring together top industry experts to discuss the threats posed by these accidental insiders. Several questions and issues will be explored including: How do you define and characterize accidental insider threats? How prevalent are these threats? How do you measure the impact of an accidental insider threat incident after it has occurred? How does legislation and policy affect what organizations can do to address these threats?
DHS cultivates cyber workforce, tools
The agency is changing its approach to the Einstein tool to keep up with the changing technology. Mark Weatherford, under secretary for cybersecurity, said on Agency of the Month that DHS is helping agencies be more proactive in defending their networks. He isn't worried about the turnover in his office.
Former Soviet bloc hackers pose greater threat, study says
The study says Eastern European hackers have a more sophisticated infrastructure and use more sophisticated malware than Eastern Asian hackers.
Agencies likely to miss network upgrade deadline
OMB sent a Sept. 30 target date for departments to implement IPv6. NIST statistics show a majority of the government's networks will not change over from the older IPv4 in the next week.
TSA analyzes mobile needs before deployment
Dr. Emma Garrison-Alexander, TSA's chief information officer, said the goal is to make sure employees have the right device to match up with their mission requirements.
September 20, 2012
Panetta talks computer hacking issues with Chinese
Despite several years of escalating diplomacy and warnings, the U.S. is making little headway in its efforts to tamp down aggressive Chinese cyberattacks against American companies and the government.
