Modernization

Super categories, supercomputers, analytics acquisitions and Microsoft clouds

News and notes from around the federal IT community.

Cybersecurity

Kim Jong-un’s Operating System Now Available in the Free World

Government (Foreign) // Pyongyang, North Korea

Digital Government

Inspectors Warn: Scrap Proposed $443 Million Border Drone Surge

U.S. unmanned jets fielded to catch border trespassers have not proved their worth and DHS is lowballing cost estimates, the watchdog reported.

Cybersecurity

Sony Hack Signals ‘New Normal’ in Cybersecurity

The attack on the entertainment conglomerate illustrates the cold reality of the cybersecurity landscape today: It’s likely to get worse before it gets better.

Cybersecurity

US Digital Service Hauled in to Shore up White House Security After Hack

The U.S. Digital Service -- the newly minted federal IT fix-it shop headed by former Google engineer Mikey Dickerson -- has been dispatched to look at shoring up security on the White House networks.

Digital Government

Report: Air Force Drone Program at ‘Breaking Point’

The force has enough drones, but so few pilots that it may not be able to fulfill the growing demand for air patrols.

Emerging Tech

This is What Happens When High Schoolers Build Robots

A tournament for tech leaders of the future is rooted in traditions of the past.

Cybersecurity

USPS breach wider than first reported

Medical records of as many as 485,000 employees might also have been exposed, in cases reaching back to 1980.

Cybersecurity

FCC complaint portal, KeyPoint inquiry and a child-porn sentencing

News and notes from around the federal IT community.

People

The measure of all things

A Commerce Department advisory council hopes to quantify innovation and measure the effectiveness of incubators and federal grants.

Cybersecurity

Cyber campus, St. E's funded in 2015

The omnibus spending bill includes $144 million for the new DHS site and $35 million for GSA’s civilian cyber campus.

Cybersecurity

Border Patrol finding new uses for data

Border security now means not only the basic metrics of apprehensions, but using that data to gauge and interdict looming threats.

Cybersecurity

Morgan Stanley Insider Exposes Private Client Names

Financial Services // New York, United States

Modernization

Watchdog Wants to Know if DOD Has Actually Saved Money by Jumping to the Cloud

Audit to determine whether DOD components performed cost-benefit analyses before buying cloud services.

Digital Government

NWS Says 'No Involvement' from China-Owned Unit in IBM Supercomputer Deal

The National Weather Service will get forecast-boosting supercomputers that will increase processing capacity by almost tenfold.

Digital Government

CIA Watchdog Who Revealed Senate Hack is Resigning

Inspector General David Buckley will step down at the end of the month, the agency said.

Ideas

Why Commercial Clouds are More Secure than Federal Data Centers

It’s time to add security as a reason for, not against, moving federal applications to the commercial cloud.

Modernization

The Mobile Wave Still Looks Like a Trickle in Government

With thousands of federal websites that haven’t yet been optimized for miniature screens, agencies are making a slow go of making government services mobile-friendly.