Latest Information Technology News: i360 Gov

7 Lessons From MilitarySingles.com Hack

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:43:16 -0400

InformationWeek: Want to stop hackers from stealing sensitive data about your users? Then you must properly encrypt and salt stored passwords, subject any user-uploaded content to rigorous server-side security checks, and put mechanisms in place to detect when an attempted breach is underway.

Those are just some of the findings highlighted in a new study from Web application firewall vendor Imperva that analyzes the March 2012 attack by LulzSec Reborn on the MilitarySingles.com website. Ultimately, the hacktivist group disclosed sensitive information on 170,000 members of the online dating site.

TSA shifting its focus from Microsoft and BlackBerry environments toward Apple devices

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:42:25 -0400

Government Security News: Following the public’s increasing demand for mobility, TSA is making a gradual shift from products and software produced for the Microsoft Windows and RIM BlackBerry environments to devices such as iPads, iPhones and iPods supplied by Apple.

The agency has recently signed off on a planned sole source procurement over the next three years of approximately 1,000 Apple computers and an additional 1,000 iPads, iPhones and iPods, whose total cost could reach as much as $3 million.

White House Mobile Strategy Might be a Game Changer

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:41:38 -0400

Government Technology: The White House unveiled a new mobile initiative on Wednesday, May 23, that’s intended to reshape how government agencies utilize mobile platforms in serving the public.

To kick-start the initiative, federal CIO Steven VanRoekel and federal CTO Todd Park released a report on mobile strategy titled Digital Goverment: Building a 21st Century Platform to Better Serve the American People, a “12-month road map” to assist agencies meet goals for a more mobile government.

Obama orders agencies to optimize Web content for mobile

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:40:26 -0400

CIO: IDG News Service (Washington, D.C., Bureau) — U.S. President Barack Obama has ordered all major government agencies to make two key services available on mobile phones within a year, in an effort to embrace a growing trend toward Web surfing on mobile devices.

Obama, in a directive issued Wednesday, also ordered federal agencies to create websites to report on their mobile progress. The websites are due within 90 days.

IBM Lands GSA Smart Buildings Contract

Wed, 23 May 2012 08:56:10 -0400

eWeek: IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced that Big Blue won a U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) contract to develop and install advanced smart building technology in 50 of the federal government’s highest energy-consuming buildings.

This project is part of GSA’s larger smart building strategy and will connect building management systems to a central cloud based platform, improving efficiency and saving up to $15 million in taxpayer dollars annually, IBM said.

Study: Patriot Act Gives US Government No Special Acess to Cloud Data

Wed, 23 May 2012 08:41:55 -0400

CIO: IDG News Service (Washington, D.C., Bureau) — An often-repeated concern that the U.S. Patriot Act gives the U.S. government unequaled access to personal data stored on cloud services is incorrect, with several other nations enjoying similar access to cloud data, according to a study released Wednesday.

Anonymous Claims it Hacked a DOJ Site

Wed, 23 May 2012 08:41:19 -0400

CIO: IDG News Service (Bangalore Bureau) — The U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday it was looking into the unauthorized access of a website server in its statistics wing, after hacker group Anonymous claimed to have collected and released 1.7GB of data from it.

In the operation, described by Anonymous as "Monday Mail Mayhem", the group claimed it had hacked the United States Bureau of Justice, presumably a reference to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, a part of the DOJ.

Policies slow to keep pace with employees' smartphone use

Wed, 23 May 2012 08:40:37 -0400

Federal Times: Employee use of smartphones and tablet computers on the job is far outpacing their managers' efforts to draft policies regulating their use.

For example, there is no governmentwide mobile device strategy. But one is on its way — the Office of Management and Budget is expected to issue one this month.

Program to vet cloud service vendors to launch June 6

Wed, 23 May 2012 08:40:08 -0400

Federal Times: A program intended to standardize the government's security certification of cloud products and services is expected to launch June 6 with the help of nine organizations named last week.

As part of the Federal Risk and Authorization program (FedRAMP), cloud vendors must first hire these approved third-party assessment organizations, or 3PAOs, to review and validate that they've implemented minimum security standards.

FBI quietly forms secretive Net-surveillance unit

Wed, 23 May 2012 08:38:40 -0400

CNET: The FBI has recently formed a secretive surveillance unit with an ambitious goal: to invent technology that will let police more readily eavesdrop on Internet and wireless communications.

The establishment of the Quantico, Va.-based unit, which is also staffed by agents from the U.S. Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Agency, is a response to technological developments that FBI officials believe outpace law enforcement's ability to listen in on private communications.

Analysis: Taking bots into battle

Wed, 23 May 2012 08:37:01 -0400

Government Executive: Something you probably didn’t know -- even if you devoured P.W. Singer’s Wired for War in hardback a few years ago or more recently read Eric Schmitt and Thom Shanker’s Counterstrike on your Kindle or Nook -- the days of “one person, one vehicle, one joystick,” even in remotely piloted aircraft, are numbered. Remotely piloted vehicles like those operated from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada and flying over Afghanistan are only near-term solutions to long-term threats.

Emerging Wireless Medical Technology Gets FCC Blessing

Wed, 23 May 2012 08:21:47 -0400

InformationWeek: In a bid to maximize the potential of Medical Body Area Network (MBAN) devices--miniaturized body-worn sensors that collect patient-specific information including EKG readings and respiratory function--the FCC plans to allow more intensive use of the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, the 2.36-2.40 gHz band, that the devices operate on. Some technologists believe MBAN represents a new approach to patient monitoring that offers the potential to eliminate bedside cables traditionally used to capture vital signs.

CIA's View Of Mobile, Internet Use: By The Numbers

Tue, 22 May 2012 07:44:10 -0400

InformationWeek: The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency recently reported some interesting information on mobile phone and Internet usage: There's a huge gap between the number of mobile users and the number of Internet users worldwide. And the gulf that divides them will only continue to widen.

China owns the top spot on both lists, with 859 million mobile phone users and 389 million Internet users. You might notice a difference of about 500 million people between those two numbers. The difference highlights how pervasive mobile technology has become, especially in regions where the wired Internet isn't available.

FTC Appoints Privacy Advocate as Adviser

Tue, 22 May 2012 07:43:32 -0400

CIO: IDG News Service (Washington, D.C., Bureau) — The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has hired Paul Ohm, a privacy advocate and critic of current online privacy practices, as a senior privacy adviser for consumer protection and competition issues affecting the Internet and mobile services.

Ohm, a University of Colorado Law School professor, will take a leave of absence from the school to serve in the FTC's Office of Policy Planning. The office focuses on long-range competition and consumer-protection policy efforts, and it advises FTC staff on cases raising complex policy and legal issues.

The new isolationists: Security on independent government networks

Tue, 22 May 2012 07:42:26 -0400

Government Security News: According to the FY 13 budget proposal, the federal government will invest $769 million to improve government-wide cyber security, and is looking to expand Department of Homeland Security (DHS)-led CyberStat reviews.

Despite the importance of these broader efforts, the key to cyber security remains the same: combining the best tools with the best people to solve the toughest security challenges.

Cerf Fears Government Cyber, Anti-Piracy Laws

Tue, 22 May 2012 07:41:57 -0400

National Journal: Governments around the world are using cybersecurity and other fears to "cloak" efforts to crack down on political speech, Vint Cerf, known as one of the fathers of the Internet, said on Monday.

The tendency among tech advocates to highlight the role the Internet played in the Arab Spring has instilled fear of the Internet in regimes that are now taking a harder line, said Cerf, now a vice president at Google.

TPM delivers a hardware root of trust for IT security

Tue, 22 May 2012 07:41:18 -0400

Government Security News: Today, with increasing electronic communications and transactions, trust in the hardware used for these purposes has never been more important. To establish and ensure trust, the U.S. and other governments around the world have taken advantage of the trusted hardware and process for establishing trust that leading technology companies have developed through a not-for profit organization, called the Trusted Computing Group (TCG).

2014 budget guidance: Cut another 5%, more for IT

Tue, 22 May 2012 07:27:34 -0400

Federal Times: Budget planning for 2014 is officially underway, and more cuts are in the works.

The White House budget office has directed agencies to plan discretionary spending cuts of 5 percent below the 2014 levels that the Obama administration has already outlined in its 2013 budget request.

Who Is Michael Daniel? New Cybersecurity Coordinator Will Reshape the White House Post

Mon, 21 May 2012 07:00:00 -0400

Gov Info Security: Some of the most-connected people in Washington's cybersecurity community never heard of Michael Daniel, who will succeed Howard Schmidt when he retires at month's end as White House cybersecurity coordinator [see Obama Cybersecurity Coordinator Resigns].

"Don't know him," a highly respected government IT security thought-leader says of Daniel, the White House Office of Management and Budget intelligence branch chief for the past 11 years.

Carriers Roll Out Mobile Emergency Alerts

Mon, 21 May 2012 06:59:24 -0400

eWeek: Look out for emergency messages from the government on your smartphone. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and wireless carriers are rolling out emergency alerts, called the Wireless Emergency Alert, or WEA, system, via text-like messages on mobile phones to allow federal, state and local governments to issue critical alerts.

The free alerts could come from the president, National Weather Service or local emergency operations, and they may include AMBER alerts on missing children. AMBER alerts must meet the U.S. Justice Department's requirements on helping law enforcement find abducted children, according to the CTIA-The Wireless Association, which is working with the Federal Communications Commission and FEMA on setting up the alerts.

Army eyes Internet replica for crisis drills

Mon, 21 May 2012 06:50:56 -0400

Nextgov: The U.S. Army is thinking about creating a replica of the Internet, replete with news sites, government websites and social media networks, to experiment with ways to manage the message during a crisis, government documents show.

FCC to vote on broadband space for patient monitoring

Mon, 21 May 2012 06:45:43 -0400

Healthcare IT News: WASHINGTON – Federal officials will soon consider a plan to set aside broadband spectrum for wireless healthcare monitoring devices, opening the door to more and better uses both inside and outside the hospital setting.

At a Thursday morning press briefing at George Washington University Hospital in Washington D.C., Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said the FCC would, at its May 24 meeting, vote on allowing the healthcare industry to use designated broadband space to develop and deploy mobile body area networks (MBANs). The wireless technology is used to continuously monitor physiological signs, including pulse rate, blood pressure and glucose measurements.

Robotic Arm Holds Promise For Paralyzed Soldiers

Fri, 18 May 2012 07:19:14 -0400

InformationWeek: Researchers have demonstrated that tetraplegics, people unable to use their limbs, can control a robotic arm via neuro signals conveyed by a microelectrode array implanted in the brain. The scientific advance holds promise for people who are paralyzed or otherwise seriously injured, including wounded soldiers.

The results of this latest research into robotic arm control were reported in the scientific journal Nature. Two study participants were able to control a prosthetic limb to reach and grasp. One used the arm to take a sip of coffee from a bottle with a straw.

Twitter Joins Google, Apple, Microsoft, Others in 'Do Not Track Effort'

Fri, 18 May 2012 07:18:40 -0400

eWeek: Twitter is the latest online business to join the "Do Not Track" crowd, announcing the move appropriately enough in a Tweet May 17.

Carolyn Penner, a spokesperson for the social media business, said in the Tweet, “The Federal Trade Commission's CTO, Ed Felten, just mentioned Twitter now supports Do Not Track. We applaud the FTC's leadership on DNT."

A look at three IT trends reshaping government

Fri, 18 May 2012 07:18:12 -0400

Nextgov: For more than three decades, executives from government and industry have been meeting annually to formally explore how advances in technology are affecting federal agencies’ missions. The aptly named Management of Change conference aims to help senior federal managers understand commercial developments in communications, data management and other areas, and how new technologies could be applied to improve citizen services, national security and a host of other federal missions.