National Institute of Standards and Technology

  • Your mom told you not to get a tattoo. Now that magnificent body art could become a sort of biometric identifier for law enforcement. The National Institutes of Standards and Technology and the FBI want to use tattoos to help identify people, be they suspects or victims of natural disasters. NIST shared some of the initial results of its research at a recent workshop. Mei Ngan is a computer scientist with NIST. She joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin with more on the identification efforts.

    June 16, 2015
  • A recent cyber breach leaves the Internal Revenue Service with more questions than answers about its online authentication system. But the IRS knows the data systems it built decades ago aren\'t useful any more. Visitors to the agency\'s Get Transcript portal are easy targets, because hackers already knew the answers to many of the knowledge based authentication questions they answered to enter the portal. Jeremy Grant, an identity management consultant and former senior executive advisor for identity management at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, tells In Depth with Francis Rose about what lessons government learn about identity management.

    June 03, 2015
  • The National Institute of Standards and Technology recently awarded Colorado State University $20 million toward establishing the Community Resilience Center of Excellence. When it's up and running, the center will help local governments decide how to best prepare for, and recover from, extreme weather or other disasters. Terri McAllister, a research structural engineer at NIST, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with more on the center.

    March 06, 2015
  • After four years leading the government efforts come up with an alternative to the password, Jeremy Grant is leaving government. He's a Senior Executive Advisor for Identity Management at the National Insitute of Standards and Technology. In an email to his colleagues, he says he's unsure where he'll go next, but plans to leave NIST in April. He joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin in studio to reflect on progress in identity management and some of the success stories.

    February 24, 2015
  • Jeremy Grant has led the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) program since 2011. His last day will be in April.

    February 19, 2015
  • The Defense Department's National Information Assurance Partnership's (NIAP) protection profile will be the governmentwide standard for agencies to use when ensuring the security of mobile apps. The Mobile Technology Tiger Team recommended the NIAP approach because of the collaboration and coordination across government and with industry.

    February 19, 2015
  • If recent events on the cybersecurity front have scared the heck out of you, well, good. There's a lot you can do. How about start by reading the latest version of the government's premier publications on how to assess whether your security and privacy controls are adequate for today's hacker-plagued world? Dr. Ron Ross, FISMA Implementation Project and Joint Task Force Leader at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to discuss what's in the newest revision of Special Publication 800-53-A.

    December 19, 2014
  • When architects and engineers design buildings, they have to meet local building codes. But, simply meeting those codes won't ensure you have the most efficient design for the long haul. Joshua Kneifel is a research economist in the engineering laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. On the Federal Drive with Tom Temin, he told Federal News Radio's Lauren Larson about a new tool NIST engineers developed that lets builders measure the economic and environmental impacts of everything from the floor to the roof.

    December 01, 2014
  • Non-federal organizations and contractors may have sensitive federal information on their computers, but there are no consistent rules on how to keep that information secure. The treatment of Controlled Unclassified Information is the focus of a new set of recommendations. Ron Ross is a National Institute of Standards and Technology fellow. He is the lead author of the new guide, and joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to explain more.

    November 24, 2014
  • Rumors have been circulating over the last few months about a possible reconsideration of the identity management technologies agencies are implementing under Homeland Security Presidential Directive-12 (HSPD-12).

    November 03, 2014
  • The National Institute of Standards and Technology has released its final version of the Cloud Computing Technology Roadmap. It incorporates more than 200 comments from government and industry, and it's intended to support the government's adoption of cloud computing. Bob Bohn is the Cloud Technical Program Manager at NIST. He joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive with details on the roadmap.

    October 29, 2014
  • You might be a dog on the Internet, but nobody can tell for sure. Confidence in who people say they are online is vital to a cyber secure future for government and industry. People at the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace have been working on this problem within the Commerce Department for a couple of years now. Jeremy Grant is senior executive advisor for Identity Management at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. He joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to discuss some recent progress.

    October 20, 2014
  • It seems like the whole world is going mobile, and that includes the federal government. Agencies are using more and more apps for collaboration and productivity. But some apps increase the potential for exposing government data. To help you guard against these security risks, the National Institute of Standards and Technology is providing tips to the federal community for vetting third-party apps. Computer Scientist, Tom Karygiannis, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to discuss the guidelines.

    August 28, 2014
  • The National Institute of Standards and Technology kicks off the Global City Teams Challenge in September. Tech-savvy members from the federal government and private sector will come together to address issues including air quality, traffic management and emergency services coordination, all through the use of smart technology. Sokwoo Rhee, associate director for Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems at NIST, joined Tom Temin on the Federal Drive to discuss what the agency hopes to accomplish.

    August 26, 2014