WikiLeaks

The Software FDA Used To Monitor Scientists’ Every Digital Move

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Computer monitoring software maker SpectorSoft is gaining sudden attention among federal workers after a Washington Post article identified the Vero Bearch, Fla. company for its role in aiding Food and Drug Administration officials to intercept screen shots, emails, key strokes, and other communications from scientists working at the FDA.

Concerned about unauthorized disclosures in the wake of the WikiLeaks scandal, FDA officials reportedly installed the monitoring software on the laptop computers of an undisclosed number of FDA scientists. Keep reading →

Published August 17, 2012 at 11:45 AM

Information Sharing Report: Private Industry Relationship Needs Work

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The U.S. government is doing a decent job sharing information among federal agencies and international partners, but the relationship with private industry still needs work, according to a recent report to Congress.

The Program Manager Information Sharing Environment annual report for 2012 noted that
law enforcement inter agency groups are doing particularly well at sharing information. They’re doing so through the state and major urban area “fusion centers, the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative and the Interagency Threat Assessment and Coordination Group.” Keep reading →

Published August 2, 2012 at 1:00 PM

Obama Issues ‘WikiLeaks’ Order To Better Safeguard Information

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The White House has issued an executive order today aimed at improving the security of classified networks and preventing the release of documents to organizations such as WikiLeaks that have compromised classified and delicate intelligence information.

The so-called “WikiLeaks Order“ issued by President Obama on Friday emphasizes the need for structural reforms by making agencies primarily responsible for the information they obtain and share. Keep reading →

Published October 7, 2011 at 1:39 PM

Top 10 Federal Security Breaches Serve As Lessons For Future

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A government laptop stolen from the home of a VA data analyst in 2006 contained Social Security numbers and other personal information for 26.5 million veterans and active duty troops.

A class action suit brought by veterans groups was later settled by the agency for $20 million. Keep reading →

Published September 9, 2011 at 3:25 PM

How To Fix A Leaking Wiki

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Among all of the many breaches of data over the past year across both the public and private sector, none seems to strike more fear into the hearts of federal agencies, managers and security personnel more than Wikileaks. To be sure, the Wikileaks incidents have caused more than their fair share of reputational damage, embarrassment to federal officials, criminal response, and calls from angry Congressmen to establish yet another layer of regulation and auditing to help prevent this type of issue in the future.

But what’s really insidious about Wikileaks is the nature of the crime: unlike the external attacks perpetrated by Anonymous, LulzSec, and other third parties by breaching security controls, Wikileaks was allegedly committed by an insider who already had access to the information he is suspected of leaking to Wikileaks. Keep reading →

Published August 16, 2011 at 3:10 PM