Cybersecurity

• OPM survey shaping future cyber workforce

  National Cybersecurity Awareness Month officially kicks off today. In coming weeks, federal officials are expected to launch a number of public programs to raise awareness of the importance of securing the nation\'s computer networks for both government and private industry. But some officials also are using it as an opportunity to ask, \"Where will the cybersecurity workers of tomorrow come from?\"

  Budget

  October 01, 2010
• UVa to offer cybersecurity info sessions

  Participants will also learn how to use the Internet safely and and prevent identity theft.

  Federal Drive

  September 30, 2010
• Collaboration is the real test for Cyber Storm III

  A U.S.-led, global exercise in cybersecurity preparedness and response is expected to wrap up in the next 24 hours. The scenario is helping seven agencies, 11 states, 12 nations and 60 private sector companies prepare for major cyber attack.

  Budget

  September 30, 2010
• GSA puts cyber focus on control systems

  A draft policy obtained by Federal News Radio details new cybersecurity requirements for more than 1,500 buildings owned by GSA\'s Public Building Service. GSA wants to standardize how facility control systems connect to GSA\'s network. The document builds on work already being done under HSPD-12.

  Technology

  September 30, 2010
• General Alexander takes on new cyber hat

  Federal Security Spotlight examines the stand-up of the new DoD Cyber Command, to be lead by General Keith Alexander. This week, we bring you a portion of a House Armed Services Committee hearing where Alexander testified. September 30, 2010

  Defense

  September 29, 2010
• GSA proposes new cyber standards at its buildings

  The General Services Administration is drafting new rules for improving cybersecurity. Federal News Radio\'s Jason Miller joined DorobekINSIDER with details and reaction to the policy.

  Technology

  September 29, 2010
• Federal Cyber Preparedness

  Prepare for the worst…and hope for the best. This unofficial mantra of the emergency preparedness and response community also applies to cyber preparedness. This week seven federal agencies, 11 states, 12 international partners, and 60 private sector companies are doing just that: preparing for the worst in cyberspace. These organizations are all participants in Cyber Storm III, a global cybersecurity preparedness exercise led by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. By the end of the week, these organizations will have responded to a fictionalized cyber threat scenario designed to test their individual and collective capabilities to respond to cyber attacks and the National Cyber Incident Response Plan (Interim Version, September 2010). Federal cyber preparedness has never been more important. The threat to federal information assets and networks is diverse, persistent, and growing. In recent testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives, General Keith Alexander, Commander of the U.S. Cyber Command, stated that U.S. Department of Defense networks are \"probed roughly 250,000 times an hour\" and characterized the \"…shift toward operationalizing cyber tools as weapons to damage or destroy\" as a \"great concern to us at Cyber Command.\" The National Cyber Incident Response Plan states: Preparedness activities, including establishing common situational awareness in a common operational picture, are shared responsibilities across Federal, State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial governments and the private sector. This week\'s Cyber Storm III exercise will provide new insight into our federal agencies\' cyber preparedness. As agencies identify lessons learned from the exercise and begin to make improvements to address areas of weakness, they should do so through a framework addressing the following elements: Governance: bringing together the mission, policies, architectures, and organizational alignment to establish the who and what for risk management strategies. Risk management: establishing risk tolerance thresholds and implementing the technologies and processes that will assess, prioritize, and monitor risk on a continual basis. Compliance: ensuring the organization maintains a cyber security posture compliant with federal laws, regulations, guidelines, and standards with the ability to demonstrate sound risk management strategies when scrutinized by internal and external auditors and Inspectors General. Operations: designing, implementing, and monitoring security controls at the operational and tactical levels to include the ability to adequately respond to, withstand, and remediate cyber attacks. General Alexander described the new approach needed for cyber deterrence by paraphrasing General Sun Tzu\'s The Art of War: \"we must understand the cyber environment and, the capabilities of our adversaries, and our own abilities.\" By evaluating federal cybersecurity programs through this framework, agencies can better understand their capabilities and live up to their shared responsibility for cyber preparedness.

  Technology

  September 29, 2010
• Patch rushed to cover ASP.net flaw

  Microsoft has issued an out-of-band security update, blocking ongoing attacks against a flaw in the ASP.NET web application framework that can cause poor encryption implementations.

  Federal Drive

  September 29, 2010
• More spam on Twitter, Facebook

  Twitter and Facebook users beware: Spam is on the rise. Hackers and spammers are looking for security holes in the social networking sites, USA Today reports.

  Technology

  September 28, 2010
• Army awards contract for NSA data center

  $1.2 billion contract awarded to build a 1.5 million square foot data center for NSA. The facility will also provide technical assistance to the Homeland Security Department to protect federal civilian agency networks.

  Federal Drive

  September 28, 2010
• Cyber Innovation Center launches in Maryland

  The CIC helps enable the delivery of cyber-risk solutions by providing a collaboration space dedicated to fusing the ideas, services and technologies required to address the nation\'s toughest cybersecurity challenges.

  Federal Drive

  September 28, 2010
• Cyber Storm III uses Internet to attack itself

  DHS kicked off a global exercise to test the capabilities of the government, other nations and the private sector, in dealing with a possible attack on computer networks. The week-long test asks participants to deal with a scenario where the attack takes down the Web.

  Technology

  September 28, 2010
• Hiring cyber pros at DoD: Alexander’s plan

  DoD will hire 1,000 cybersecurity workers a year across all the services over the next few years to build their cyber force.

  All News

  September 27, 2010
• Who can shut down the Internet?

  In the case of a cybersecurity attack, who --if anybody -- should have the power to shut down the Internet. DorobekINSIDER talks with David Silverberg, editor of Homeland Security Today, about who should have the keys to the Internet.

  Technology

  September 27, 2010