Cybersecurity

A reader's guide to safer passwords

Readers of Federal Computer Week and Government Computer News share their secrets for creating foolproof passwords.

Digital Government

Industry team to monitor some VA IT programs

The Veterans Affairs Department has awarded a contract worth up to $115 million to HPTi and its team members to evaluate information technology programs.

Digital Government

Lawmakers question agencies' online contests and prizes

Two Republicans say the White House's push for competition and cash awards wastes taxpayer money, but the White House and a federal manager say the investments are worthwhile.

Digital Government

NOAA sends high-tech research ship into Gulf

Scientists will take water samples to determine if suspended oil plumes are traveling far below the surface, depleting oxygen and threatening marine life.

Digital Government

Cybersecurity moving up on Congress' to-do list, staffer says

A Senate staffer on Thursday told a Washington audience that momentum is growing in Congress for passage of comprehensive cybersecurity legislation. Meanwhile, DHS is readying new performance metrics for FISMA compliance.

Ideas

Layering the Oil Spill Fall Out

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has generated lots of computer models, applications and Web sites. Here's another one: <a href=http://www.geoplatform.gov/erma.html#x=-90.42000&y=28.03000&z=6&layers=>Geoplatform.gov</a>, developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric and Administration.

Digital Government

How Far Would You Drive for Billions?

The Technology Acquisition Center at the Veterans Affairs Department held an industry day for its planned $12 billion <a href=http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20091203_2809.php>Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology</a> (T4) procurement at a hotel near its headquarters in Eatontown, N.J. -- a trip some potential bidders found a wee bit too far.

Digital Government

Future oil spills could be averted by Regulation 3.0 apps

Federal regulators should not depend on companies feeding — and perhaps filtering — information to them, writes W. David Stephenson, a Government/Enterprise 2.0 consultant.

Digital Government

Federal employees shouldn't be slaves to rules

Federal managers should combat employees' perceptions that their job is simply to follow the rules, writes FCW columnist Steve Kelman.

Digital Government

Top leaders are realizing that, when it comes to IT security, ignorance is costly

Effective cybersecurity requires approaches that look at vulnerability and risk through the dual lenses of technology and policy, writes commentator Chris Bronk.

Cybersecurity

White House names new chief of terrorism-related info sharing environment

The Obama administration has named a new leader for an office tasked with improving how agencies share terrorism-related information.

Acquisition

VA's Frye sees flexibility in the Federal Acquisition Regulation

Although many people in the acquisition community view the Federal Acquisition Regulation as a confining regulatory book, VA Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition and Logistics Jan Frye takes a different approach.