Cybersecurity

Obama proposes big increase in cybersecurity spending at DHS

Fiscal 2010 budget proposal is vague on IT spending, but officials believe the administration will target education, grid computing and health care.

Digital Government

VA to start processing vets' educational benefits in March

Although a new claims processing system won't be fully up and running when the GI Bill takes effect, officials promise a short-term fix.

Ideas

Cyberwarriors Fight the DOS Blitzkreig

The Defense Department has been conducting training exercises for cyberwarriors for years, but it finally formalized the operations in the National Cyber Range. From an article on MSNBC:

Digital Government

The March of the Botnets

Dennis Blair, Director of National Intelligence, provided a <a href=http://www.dni.gov/testimonies/20090225_testimony.pdf>grim statistic in his testimony</a> on Wednesday at a hearing of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He said 15 percent of all networked computers in the world are in <a href= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botnet>botnets</a>, computers hijacked and remotely controlled to deliver spam or launch distributed denial-of-service attacks.

Modernization

DHS' Beckström: Feds need to define cyber goals

An expert says the government needs to clarify its vision of what constitutes successful cybersecurity.

Modernization

NIST creates cloud-computing team

The team will identify possible risks to federal agencies that use the emerging technology and determine how to make it secure, a NIST official said.

Cybersecurity

FAA will use software to identify sensitive data

A recent data breach demonstrated how difficult it is for agencies with a large infrastructure to know where all their sensitive data is and to assure its security, an official says.

Cybersecurity

DHS secretary discusses department's IT programs

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said today an initial review showed that a 2012 deadline for DHS to scan for radiation all U.S.-bound sea cargo was not going to work. She also discussed information-sharing.

Digital Government

SSA data backup still 6 months away

Federal News Radio

Cybersecurity

DHS secretary promises more information sharing

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Modernization

GSA puts its USA.gov Web site in the cloud

Outsourcing storage and maintenance of the site's applications will halve costs and provide better service and security, agency officials say.

Digital Government

Billions for health records rest on NIST standards

Health professionals say finding agreement is the key to success for the economic stimulus act's $19 billion for automating health records.

Modernization

Officials eye a geospatial 'Virtual USA'

Officials from the Homeland Security Department and several states have started a project intended to make state and local geospatial data interoperable.

Digital Government

Oh, AHLTA is a Proper Noun

Last week <a href=http://whatsbrewin.nextgov.com/2009/02/a_new_vista_for_ahlta_redux.php>I referred to AHLTA</a>, the Defense Department's electronic health record system, as an acronym that stood for Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application system. It did when AHLTA was introduced in 2005.