Artificial Intelligence
Microsoft's Chatbot Became a Racist Jerk After Less Than a Day on Twitter
Tay started out by asserting that “humans are super cool.” But the humans it encountered really weren’t so cool.
Digital Government
7 Iranians Indicted for Hacking
The FBI’s most-wanted list for cybercrime has grown by nearly 50 percent this week.
Digital Government
HHS Official: Social Media Listening a ‘Routine’ Part of Emergency Response
Response teams might scan tweets to see which geographic areas need resources during a natural disaster.
Digital Government
Final A-130 revisions due out this summer
A long-awaited revision of the principal federal IT policy document is due out this summer, according to the OMB official leading the rewrite.
Cybersecurity
Fraudsters' targets show cybersecurity success, says IRS commissioner
The breaches of IRS security tools are, in some ways, good signs, said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, because they demonstrate that the tools are making hackers' lives harder.
People
Forest Service CIO wanted
The conservation agency is looking for a new leader for its technology operations.
Modernization
TRANSCOM wants an IT service 'library'
TRANSCOM's Command, Control, Communications, and Cyber Systems Directorate is in the early stages of adopting an IT "infrastructure library" of best practices to improve the directorate's IT service management.
Emerging Tech
A Search for the Government’s Oldest Computer
A 30-year-old computer in Grand Rapids that controls a school’s temperature, a 40-year-old machine in Hawaii handling payroll and the computers at NASA built for the Voyager space mission are all in contention.
Emerging Tech
Why the Future Needs Huggable Robots
The distance between people and machines—the fact that robots aren’t more snuggly—poses a real problem for the future of robotics.
Cybersecurity
NPPD to become Cyber Infrastructure Protection
The reorganization of DHS's cyber agency aims to showcase spectrum of physical and IT protections.
Digital Government
Driverless-Car Makers on Privacy: Just Trust Us
Members of Congress are calling for new rules that determine how companies can use personal data collected by autonomous vehicles.
Modernization
Coming soon: A faster FedRAMP
The director of the FedRAMP cloud service authorization program offered a preview of what's on tap for the coming reboot.
Cybersecurity
Someone is Breaching HealthCare.gov, But It's Not a Hacker
Of the 300-some reported security incidents that have impacted HealthCare.gov and supporting machines, there was a single malicious intrusion, according to federal auditors.
Cybersecurity
Survey: Agency Cyber Pros Prefer Perimeter Defense to Encryption
Encryption and other data-at-rest defenses were ranked “dead last” in terms of spending plans over the next year, according to a new report.
Cybersecurity
DOJ indicts 7 Iranians for hacking U.S. dam, banks
The Justice Department on March 24 indicted seven hackers associated with the Iranian government for infiltrating systems controlling a New York dam, and attacking several U.S. banks.
Cybersecurity
Chinese national pleads guilty to hacking U.S. contractors
The episode is a reminder of the Pentagon’s ongoing struggle to keep defense secrets out of the hands of foreign hackers.
Cybersecurity
Pentagon Wants Tech Companies to Pitch Cyber Products
The Defense Department is inviting “innovative” companies to present their products to government this summer.
Modernization
Video: Want to Recycle Your iPhone? This Robot Will Do it For You
Apple hopes its newest employee can have a positive impact on the environment.
Cybersecurity