Cybersecurity

  • In a message to senior executives, Secretary Eric Shinseki said that Stephen Warren now will hold the title of executive in charge, Office of Information and Technology and chief information officer. The title change comes as the House Veterans Affairs Committee is turning up on the heat once again on the agency's ability to secure its systems and protect data.

    October 30, 2013
  • With the partial government shutdown behind them, members of Congress are working on several bills that impact the federal workforce, including a resolution that supports ending the federal pay freeze and a bill that tackles the claims backlog at Veterans Affairs.

    October 29, 2013
  • Israel's military chief Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz says computer sabotage is a major concern and he warned a sophisticated cyber-attack could one day bring the nation to a standstill. In fact, a month before his address, a major artery in Israel's national road network in the northern city of Haifa was shut down because of a cyber-attack by a Trojan horse. Key operations were knocked out of commission for two days causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage.

    October 28, 2013
  • A British man has been arrested in England and charged by the United States and Britain with infiltrating U.S. government computer systems, including those run by the military, to steal confidential data and disrupt operations, the Associated Press reports. U.S. prosecutors said the alleged hacker, Lauri Love, infiltrated thousands of computer systems including those of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. space agency NASA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

    October 28, 2013
  • The Army still doesn't know whether its new and growing force of soldiers dedicated to cyber missions is large enough for the task. But it's certain it doesn't have the legal authorities it needs to attract and retain the talent it wants.

    October 28, 2013
  • Earl Crane, senior principal at Promontory Financial Group, was Francis Rose's guest in studio for Industry Chatter.

    October 24, 2013
  • As business practices, information technology and cybersecurity threats become more industry-agnostic, competition across and between industries for cybersecurity professionals will remain fierce, says Earl Crane, former member of the White House National Security Staff. Though professionals will be in short supply for years to come, increased mobility among industries and government will bring a leveling of common cybersecurity skills across the profession.

    October 24, 2013
  • Command Sgt. Maj. Rodney Harris, the senior enlisted advisor at Army Cyber Command, said the Army is doing a good job at finding the right soldiers with the necessary skill sets to become cyber warriors.

    October 23, 2013
  • NIST issues the industry-developed final draft approach to help critical infrastructure providers secure their computer systems. The agency is accepting comments over the next couple of months and will issue a version 1.0 of the framework in February. Industry offered mixed reactions to the framework. Some said it's too broad while others said it provides a set of agreed upon basic cyber protections.

    October 23, 2013
  • Jason Healey, the director of the Cyber Statecraft Initiative for the Atlantic Council, endorsed an approach that would turn how government and the private sector work together to battle cyber threats on its head.

    October 22, 2013
  • Russian authorities have arrested a man believed to be responsible for distributing a notorious software kit known as "Blackhole" that is widely used by cyber criminals to infect PCs, according to a person familiar with the situation. A former Russian police detective in contact with Russia's federal government told Reuters that the suspect, who is known in hacking circles as "Paunch," had been arrested.

    October 21, 2013
  • The U.S. National Security Agency swept up 70.3 million French telephone records in a 30-day period, according to a newspaper report Monday that offered new details of the massive scope of a surveillance operation that has angered some of the country's closest allies. The French government summoned the U.S. ambassador for an explanation on Monday and renewed demands for talks on protection of personal data, as well as pledges that the surveillance would cease.

    October 21, 2013
  • News and buzz in the acquisition and IT communities that you may have missed this week.

    October 18, 2013
  • Federal employees are eligible for a free one-day training session in early November on implementing continuous monitoring. The goal is to help agencies make good use of the continuous diagnostics and monitoring contract DHS awarded in August.

    October 18, 2013