Cybersecurity

Network maps, moisture maps and stalled job growth

News and notes from around the federal IT community.

Emerging Tech

How Government Space Geeks at NASA Won the Internet

How NASA stumbled upon perhaps the greatest social-media strategy of our time.

Digital Government

How a Fed with Fake Diplomas Worked at the Interior Department for 5 Years

The technology officer eventually resigned from the Interior Department—and then he worked at the Census Bureau.

Cybersecurity

White House plugs plan to boost immigration IT

The U.S. Digital Service wants to bring a more intuitive process and consistent look and feel to online immigration applications.

Cybersecurity

DOD looks to new analytics center to tackle insider threat

The Defense Insider Threat Management and Analysis Center is meant to be predictive rather than reactive, with the help of advances in big data.

People

Making the most of agency email scandals

Chief Records Officer Paul Wester would prefer that records management was done right, of course, but the political kerfuffles do offer a teachable moment.

Acquisition

GSA rolls out commodity IT service

The idea behind Advantage Select is for the agency to do the upfront work and award short-term BPAs that leverage existing contractor inventories.

Modernization

Do Encrypted Phones Threaten National Security?

A legislator compares manufacturing devices with strong, end-to-end encryption to dumping toxic waste in a stream.

Cybersecurity

Topless Photos of Carl’s Jr. Model Leaked

Entertainment // Social Media

Cybersecurity

After Dodging the Bullet that Hit OPM, Interior ‘Owns’ Up to Cyber Problem

Department CIO Sylvia Burns was horrified to learn another agency's database was hacked inside her IT facility.

Cybersecurity

Why are Government Contractors Cutting Their Cybersecurity Budgets?

The majority of large firms also decreased their overall IT spending, the survey showed.

Emerging Tech

FCC Wants to Operate 100 Percent in the Cloud by the End of 2017

FCC is going all-in on cloud computing and is currently in the middle of a “lift-and-shift."

Digital Government

McCain on defense bill, NGA on Hootenanny, Army on battlefield tech

News and notes from around the federal IT community.

Cybersecurity

Machine-Only Hacking Competition Produces 7 Finalists

The lucky few emerged after a full day's worth of a rapid-fire game of capture the flag.

Modernization

Google Wants to Make Your Cellphone Screen Disappear

The phones of the future might look very different.

Cybersecurity

OPM's shift in security posture raises labor law questions

OPM did not give unions a chance to bargain over the cutting off of social media and personal email accounts.

Cybersecurity

Your Data Is Compromised. (Yes, Yours.) What Now?

"Everybody's data is at risk and vulnerable, and has probably been compromised multiple times, if they're an adult."

Cybersecurity

CSIS, lawmakers launch cyber task force for next president

The new task force will take note of progress since the last one seven years ago, and make recommendations for executive action for whoever is elected in 2016.