Cybersecurity

CentCom hacked, GSA dinged and big data's cyber power

News and notes from around the federal IT community.

Digital Government

Obama Calls on Congress to Pass Data Privacy Laws

The president will urge lawmakers to pass laws to combat hacking and protect student privacy.

Emerging Tech

Bipartisan Proposal Would Ban Internet Taxes Forever

The revival of the Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act likely complicates efforts to pass an online sales tax bill.

Digital Government

Using big data to benefit veterans

A VistA expert offers three keys for turning health data into improved care and lower costs.

Modernization

Largest digital camera ever will be pointed at the sky

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope 'will help researchers study the formation of galaxies, track potentially hazardous asteroids, observe exploding stars and better understand dark matter and dark energy.'

Cybersecurity

Why Police Need to Hack Into CCTV Systems in Paris and Elsewhere

What good are surveillance cameras populating private and public property worldwide, if emergency responders can’t immediately obtain real-time footage?

Cybersecurity

Hackers Rig College Football, Prank Bryan Adams, Target Nvidia and Breach Bus System

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

Cybersecurity

Your Router Could Be Behind Lizard Squad’s Attacks

Lizard Squad is the online group that claimed responsibility for the attacks on PlayStation’s and Xbox’s networks last month.

Digital Government

The Man from Google Who Came to Fix Federal IT Still Doesn’t Have His Own Website

Nearly six months after the launch of the U.S. Digital Service, the agency still has no discernible Web presence.

Digital Government

Why Republicans are Desperate for a Net Neutrality Compromise

Lawmakers are scrambling to find an alternative to expansive utility-style regulations.

Cybersecurity

Hackers Leak Data from Swiss Bank that Rebuffed $12K Ransom Demand

Financial Services // Geneva, Switzerland

Cybersecurity

DHS approps, CISPA returns, Senate Web and more

New and notes from around the federal IT community.

Digital Government

Tech for 2020 Census comes into focus

Officials estimate that improved self-reporting could save $548 million, and that technology to improve the management and productivity of field workers could result in $2.3 billion in savings.

Cybersecurity

U.S. officials: Sony investigation was thorough

Obama administration officials have vigorously defended what they say was a thorough and careful investigation into the Sony hack that laid the blame on North Korea.

Acquisition

Working around OASIS' lack of BPAs

Federal customers can't use a blanket purchase agreement with OASIS, but they can use task orders to accomplish the same thing.

Acquisition

SEWP IV changes coming as SEWP V emerges

A fee decrease is among the changes taking place for the outgoing SEWP IV vehicle.

Cybersecurity

Georgia Tech Student Hacks Rival UGA’s Website

Education // Georgia, United States

Cybersecurity

Federal Cybersecurity Spending is Big Bucks. Why Doesn't It Stop Hackers?

Despite paying $59 billion for data protections since fiscal 2010, the federal government couldn’t stave off hacks against the White House, State Department, Army and dozens of other agencies.

Emerging Tech

How Reverse-Engineering the Brain Could Help Machines Learn

The research arm of the intelligence community wants “human-like proficiency” in processing tasks like one-shot learning, unsupervised clustering and scene parsing