Cybersecurity

High-impact federal systems are vulnerable and under constant assault

According to a new report, federal agencies that store critical data are not fully prepared for the ongoing uptick in attacks on IT systems.

Cybersecurity

Chinese cyber espionage drops steadily, report says

A study by FireEye offers a fresh set of data points in China's cyber espionage, which U.S. lawmakers have long characterized as rampant and inexorable.

Cybersecurity

DOD bullish on bug bounties

"Hack the Pentagon" turned up almost 140 vulnerabilities in a demonstration of how DOD can capitalize on crowdsourcing.

Cybersecurity

IARPA Wants To Stop You From Spoofing Facial Scans and Fingerprints

The intelligence community's R&D group wants technology that can detect attempts to evade biometric collection.

Cybersecurity

Senate Committee Wants to Know if OMB Ever Uses its Get-Tough Cyber Power

Since the OPM hack was revealed last summer, the White House has exhorted agencies to tighten their cybersecurity defenses.

Digital Government

Pentagon Prepares to Launch Mega Database for Screening National Security Workers

The new system will consolidate two existing tools used for vetting employees and job applicants.

Cybersecurity

Hackers Shower Pro-ISIS Twitter Accounts With Rainbows, Steal US Jet Fighter Designs; Courthouse Mistakenly Leaks Defendants’ Data

Just another week in ThreatWatch, our regularly updated index of noteworthy data breaches.

Cybersecurity

GAO wants more privacy protections for facial recognition data

GAO said the FBI should take a careful look at the privacy issues involved with facial recognition technology and the hundreds of millions of images the bureau can access.

Cybersecurity

N.K. Hackers Filch U.S. Jet Fighter Designs from South Korean Firm

Defense Industrial Base // South Korea

Cybersecurity

County Courthouse Breaches Residents' SSNs, Other Personal Data

Government (U.S.) // California, United States

Cybersecurity

Obama taps former spy as CIA watchdog

After 16 months without a Senate-confirmed leader, the CIA has a nominee to head its Office of Inspector General.

Cybersecurity

DHS Hacker Warnings Will Soon Carry Reputation Scores

Essentially, the ranking would tell companies and agencies, with a certain degree of confidence, the reliability of a threat warning.

Cybersecurity

Ex-White House officials call for reform of zero-day disclosures

Having a clearly-defined vulnerability equities process bound by an executive order would build public trust and improve accountability, according to Ari Schwartz and Rob Knake

Cybersecurity

Government Websites Are Really, Really Bad at Foiling Bots

A new project tested 1,000 sites' abilities to defend against bots.

Cybersecurity

Bill aims to put local, state fusion center reps in NCCIC

New bill would open federal cyber fusion HQ to state and local agencies to share cyberthreat info.

Cybersecurity

U.S. agency targeted by advanced spear phishing

An advanced hacking group likely compromised a foreign ministry email account and sent malware-laced email to a U.S. agency, according to Palo Alto Networks researchers.

Cybersecurity

VA taps UL for medical device cybersecurity

Testing and science firm UL will help the VA with a plan to protect connected medical IT from cyberattacks.

Emerging Tech

Watchdog: FBI Facial Recognition May Not Be Accurate

A new GAO report examined the Interstate Photo System, with more than 30 million photos, and the FBI’s face recognition capability.