Digital Government

DHS chief plans changes to terror alert system

Secretary Jeh Johnson is planning modifications to the terrorism alert system to make it more responsive to murkier threats and is considering changes to the K-1 visa program.

Cybersecurity

DHS looking to biometrics, more shared info on VWP

DHS is proposing changes to the Visa Waiver Program that would expand the use of biometrics, the sharing of information with Interpol and modifications to existing background check databases.

Digital Government

Warner: Visa waiver data troubling in light of Paris attacks

A reciprocal travel program with 38 participating countries allows for visa-free visits, but a key U.S. senator warns of troubling gaps in the security data.

Cybersecurity

What a big Navy breach taught the Army

The Army had been paying close attention to the Navy's operation to drive Iranian hackers from the unclassified portion of the service's intranet.

Cybersecurity

Why candidates are missing the point on cyber

Hacking China back is not the solution to American cyber vulnerability, experts warn. Voters need to start demanding that presidential candidates take a deeper look at the issue.

Acquisition

Pacific trade deal could mean more work for federal CIOs

The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement's provisions on government procurement would open new supplier markets to federal buyers, but will likely require more due diligence.

Cybersecurity

NIST demystifies whitelisting, Pelosi leads trip to China and more

News and notes from around the federal IT community.

Cybersecurity

Industry says it's fed up with feds' no hack-back rules

Battered by cyberattacks, the private sector wants to know when the government will take the fight to the adversary -- or at least let companies retaliate on their own.

Cybersecurity

DHS chief says critical vulnerabilities greatly reduced

DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson praised agencies' progress on network security, saying nearly 99 percent of identified problems have been fixed since May.

Acquisition

Chaffetz wants to rein in stingrays, GSA hits OASIS milestone and more

News and notes from around the federal IT community.

Cybersecurity

Shoring up supply chain security

Supply chain measures should address gaps in policy but not discriminate against products from a certain country, according to a new report from the Council on Foreign Relations.

Cybersecurity

Former NSA chief: Data manipulation an 'emerging art of war'

Adversaries' ability to manipulate the content of stored data, a phenomenon that is high on U.S. officials' radar, is an "emerging art of war in cyberspace," former NSA director and retired Gen. Keith Alexander told FCW.

Cybersecurity

DHS chief defends China cyber accord

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told lawmakers it was too soon to tell whether a recent cyber accord with Beijing was altering Chinese behavior in cyberspace.

Cybersecurity

VA's Hickey resigns, OMB seeks cyber specialist and more

News and notes from around the federal IT community.

Cybersecurity

Fed employee, service member IDs hacked, given to ISIS

The U.S. is blaming a shadowy foreign hacker for sharing stolen data on more than 1,000 feds and U.S. service members with Islamic State militants.

Cybersecurity

Webb: Cyber warfare biggest daily threat to U.S.

Although cybersecurity did not figure prominently in the first Democratic debate, long-shot candidate Jim Webb did single out cyber warfare as an acute threat to national security.

Cybersecurity

Senate panel skeptical about U.S.-China cyber accord

Intel and defense chiefs defend the administration's cyber deal with China, but key lawmakers are skeptical.

Cybersecurity

The coming private cyber 'war'

Will U.S. companies, fed up with getting hacked and not getting the government backup they want, launch cyberattacks against foreign actors – and would that qualify as “warfare”?

Cybersecurity

Intel chiefs say cyber norms, deterrence strategy still elusive

DNI James Clapper told lawmakers that absent a clear U.S. cyber deterrence policy, hacks of the magnitude of the OPM intrusion will continue.

Modernization

The Internet's watchmen applaud privacy

Security pros demonstrated that they, too, value privacy as they listened to a debate between a former NSA chief and one of the world's foremost privacy advocates.