Ideas

High Risk List Posted

The Office of Management and Budget just released its <a href="http://it.usaspending.gov/?q=content/highpriority-projects">high-risk list</a> of information technology projects. A full story will be posted later today.

People

Air Force must do better job of tracking risky agreements: IG

Air Force contracting personnel often failed to complete all necessary steps to protect the service before letting a contractor begin a project even though negotiations were still under way, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Digital Government

Why cybersecurity experts can never rest

Hackers readily adapt to evolving security technologies and tactics, report reveals, highlighting the need for constant diligence.

People

White House targets 26 high-risk IT programs for fixes

Federal CIO Vivek Kundra said the goal of a high-priority IT project list is not to kill the projects, but to turn them around as quickly as possible.

Acquisition

Education Department revamps obsolete acquisition regulations

Education Department officials are making the first large-scale revisions to their buying rules since President Ronald Reagan was in the White House.

Digital Government

Top 10 signs you have a Rising Star on staff

Short of an obvious nose ring or Justin Bieber ringtone, how would you know if you have a Rising Star in your midst? FCW Cartoonist John Klossner offers 10 tips.

Digital Government

The pros and cons of government cybersecurity work

A couple of old-line security pros warn that cybersecurity jobs – especially in government – are likely to be frustrating for qualified hackers. But there also are some upsides to the work.

Digital Government

U.S. reviews tech spending

The Wall Street Journal

Modernization

Data Deluge

Agencies have turned to virtualization to process a growing stockpile of information. Now the challenge is where to put it all.

Modernization

Social Security expects to award mega-IT contract by October

The $2 billion pact continues a services agreement, but will expand to include health information technology work that will allow the agency to exchange more electronic medical data.

Digital Government

Obama sends 30 technology projects back to the drawing board

Initiatives will be dropped if agencies can't get them back on track.

Digital Government

Gates orders more information sharing to stop inside attacks

New policy will help alert Defense's investigative groups to threat information discovered during counterintelligence operations on department networks, systems and computers.

Ideas

White House Throwback Home Page

My colleague Tom Shoop, editor of Government Executive, <a href="http://blogs.govexec.com/fedblog/2010/08/open_government_v_10.php">posted</a> in the FedBlog an image of the home page for the White House website circa 1994:

Ideas

You Can Teach Old Dogs New Tricks

OK, that's not meant as a dig. But it's a good description of a quick turnaround for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who almost boastingly stated during his 2008 presidential campaign, "I don't e-mail," and then watched his opponent Barack Obama digitally fly past him to claim the presidency. The nearly 74-year-old senator came in at the No. 1 spot among senators in a Digital IQ ranking.

Digital Government

Google Now Owns Earth

Or, based on this <a href=https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=cb73f0c420f845c209adc2a22fb550d7&tab=core&_cview=0>sole-source contract announcement</a> from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, Google now owns, at the least, visualization of the planet.

Digital Government

Governator: 'Hasta la Vista, Paper.'

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger celebrated the launch this week of an ambitious "telehealth" system that will use a dedicated broadband network to link hospitals and clinics throughout the country's most populous state.

Cybersecurity

Attack of the Facebook Quizzes

Social engineering attacks are becoming increasingly prevalent, and I've profiled a few in this <a href="http://cybersecurityreport.nextgov.com/2010/08/social_media_guidelines.php?oref=latest_posts">blog</a>. But I recently read an intriguing <a href="http://www.sans.org/reading_room/whitepapers/privacy/disney-princess-you_33328">white paper/research report</a> on some of the dangers of Facebook and other social media websites. The real risk is divulging too much information about ourselves via online quizzes and user profiles. This particular white paper is titled "Which Disney Princess are YOU?" The author writes: