Cybersecurity
Deloitte Bolsters Cyber Biz
Deloitte & Touche LLP has nabbed the former Federal Aviation Administration cybersecurity chief to expand its threat intelligence business, officials at the consulting company announced on Tuesday.
Digital Government
Major IT Vendors Violated Labor Laws
Federal auditors identified four information technology contractors that have committed big violations of health or wage regulations, as part of an investigation of 15 suppliers with prior offenses that won awards totaling more than $6 billion in 2009.
Digital Government
Recent large IT contracts could cut prices for government, experts say
Multibillion-dollar pacts might be positive for agencies, but they're not always beneficial for vendors that must pay more for a chance to participate.
Cybersecurity
Cyber czar asks public to stop, think and connect
White House's Howard Schmidt announces marketing campaign that instructs Americans to take more responsibility guarding their privacy online.
Digital Government
CDC increases competition with $5 billion IT contract
The 10-year indefinite delivery-indefinite quantity pact awarded to 30 companies that will provide information management, management consulting and IT infrastructure.
Digital Government
Survey: FOIA Workers Need $$$, Tech
Federal employees who are responsible for administering the Freedom of Information Act say their offices are too short-staffed, underfunded and technologically inept to process requests as expeditiously as the White House wants, according to a survey conducted by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
Cybersecurity
Space agency is headed for new information security requirements
Bill would require NASA to provide progress reports on real-time computer monitoring systems; move comes amid effort to update policies governmentwide.
Digital Government
Fed-Backed Prizes Handed Out
The White House on Tuesday congratulated teams of Americans who won $60,000 in government-funded prizes by developing kids' video games that encourage physical activity and healthy eating, in the culmination of a campaign aimed at beating obesity and promoting federally backed prizes.
Cybersecurity
IRS fails to assign employees security roles and responsibilities, audit finds
Inspector general concludes the agency did not develop day-to-day procedures and metrics for evaluating compliance with IT security requirements.
Digital Government
HHS Finishes Funding HIT Help Desk
The administration has finished awarding $677 million to create something like a nationwide help desk for the exchange of electronic health records, with Tuesday's announcement of the final two communities selected to offer providers technical assistance.
Digital Government
White House boosts effort to keep fake products out of procurement
New interagency group aims to stop counterfeit goods from entering Defense supply chain.
Digital Government
Texting About A Texting Ban
In something of an irony, the Transportation Department considered comments from an online dialogue promoted via text-messaging service Twitter to finalize a new rule that bans commercial truck and bus operators from texting while driving. The regulation, which was <a href="http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/2010-23861.htm">published</a> in Monday's <em>Federal Register</em>, cites comments contributed by Cornell Law School's pilot initiative to crowdsource rulemaking, or tap the wisdom of the online masses to inform policy.
Digital Government
HUD issues to IBM new, cheaper financial management upgrade
Reworked project is part of the Obama administration's initiative to improve expensive, troubled systems.
Digital Government
Lawmakers ask White House to stop DHS financial system
House Judiciary Committee leaders say the department has not followed OMB requirements for developing the risky projects, but Homeland Security officials disagree.
Modernization
Debate heats up over police access to data in the cloud
Law enforcement officials say they need to obtain information stored in offsite servers quickly for evidence, and business says protections should be included in law.
Ideas
A More Serious Twitter Breach
When hackers on Tuesday exploited a security flaw on the social-networking service Twitter to corrupt messages from users -- including the White House press secretary's account -- the breach seemed to be a joke rather than an effort to bring down systems.
Digital Government
Feds continued to Tweet despite attack on the service
Bug caused White House press secretary's Twitter account to transmit a message of nonsensical chains of letters and symbols.
Digital Government
Server Consolidation Hires, Then Fires
Whatever the outcome of the White House's initiative to consolidate costly federal data centers, the transition presents a dilemma for contract employees. They stand to gain business by aggregating servers, and, then lose a substantial amount of maintenance and support work once systems are combined or outsourced. This is one finding in a new report by market research firm Input on the challenges facing the administration's effort to downsize server farms in five years.
Modernization