If you could improve your agency’s bottom line and reduce your IT infrastructure costs, all without sacrificing mission-critical capabilities, where would you start?
Ideally, you’d like to know where you’re getting the best performance from your IT investment, along with knowledge about over-use and under-use so you’d know where to make cuts, and whether you might be able to consolidate some operations to save money. Keep reading →
As I write this article, there are currently more than 10 different bills being evaluated in various Congressional committees, all of which address some aspect of cybersecurity.
Many of these bills are large, over-arching concepts – FISMA 2.0 and the like. But many others are being developed to address the specific risks and threats of certain types of systems, from “critical infrastructure” (generally regarded as assets that associated with energy production and distribution, the food supply, and national defense), to financial systems, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, and other industries. Many of these bills – if passed and signed into law – will mandate industry-specific security controls, risk calculations, and other requirements for private organizations. Keep reading →
Last month, I attended the LandWarNet Conference in Tampa where the theme was “Transforming Cyber While At War.”
In preparation for that I had just written an article entitled “Using Social Media Comments To Speculate About Future Cyber Events” which looked at using data analytic tools that can help predict future events from a collection of blog postings. I wanted to demonstrate that and “Build a Traumatic Brain Injury Knowledge base in the Cloud” for the Binary Group, of which the above graphic is part, using another new state-of-the-art technologies. Keep reading →
Cyber security powerhouse Symantec Corp. plans to release a new product within the next 12 months that it believes will deliver the necessary identity management and information protections that many federal agencies are looking for before they make the leap to cloud computing, a senior Symantec official said.
Many federal enterprises, particularly those in the defense, intelligence and homeland security arenas, have been slow to move to cloud-based services because of the security concerns that arise from moving an organization’s servers, software and data into a shared cloud environment. But with its new O3 (a.k.a. Ozone) product, which will combine identity management with policy controls, information inspection and encryption, Symantec officials believe they have the answer that the government has been looking for. Keep reading →
Cybersecurity powerhouse Symantec Corp. plans to release a new product within the next 12 months that it believes will deliver the necessary identity management and information protections that many federal agencies are looking for before they make the leap to cloud computing, a senior Symantec official said.
Many federal enterprises, particularly those in the defense, intelligence and homeland security arenas, have been slow to move to cloud-based services because of the security concerns that arise from moving an organization’s servers, software and data into a shared cloud environment. But with its new O3 (a.k.a. Ozone) product, which will combine identity management with policy controls, information inspection and encryption, Symantec officials believe they have the answer that the government has been looking for. Keep reading →
Hewlett-Packard’s announcement on Aug. 18 that it planned to abandon tablets and smart phones, and explore a possible sale of its PC business in favor of software and services led many on Wall Street to question the company’s grand strategy and future valuation.
But throughout the federal government, where the world’s largest IT company is also one of the two most popular providers of desktop computers, the three main questions on the minds of IT managers are: will a decision by HP to sell its Personal Systems Group (PSG) impact my agency? Will my HP desktop investment look dramatically different in the near future? And, should federal IT decision makers be nervous about HP’s drastic change of course? Keep reading →
This article was originally published by FedInsider.
CIOs often say that cybersecurity should be built into software and systems, and not thought of as a later add-on. In practice this ideal is seldom reached. But the National Nuclear Security Administration is in the midst of a three-pronged IT initiative to both modernize its infrastructure and get closer to having cybersecurity baked in. Keep reading →
Cloud computing, telework and data center consolidation–and a cross section of senior federal IT officials–took center stage at a conference yesterday to discuss ways to use information technology to reduce the total cost of government.
While nobody was willing to predict how the federal budget crunch was likely to impact specific government IT programs, most agreed that cloud computing, telework and data center consolidation are the three major initiatives that federal CIOs and managers must come to terms with in the coming budget cycle. Keep reading →
The Homeland Security Department is putting cloud computing policy into practice, as the department begins migrating all of its public-facing, non-sensitive Web sites onto platforms maintained entirely by commercial cloud providers.
In addition, DHS is laying the groundwork to move two other programs to the cloud:an employment verification system and a data center services program. Keep reading →
A White House memo giving chief information officers at federal agencies greater responsibilities to reduce wasteful technology spending comes up short in giving CIOs the added authority many believe they need to make a significant impact, say current and former government IT officials.
The memo, issued by Office of Management and Budget Director Jacob Lew on Aug. 8, notified U.S. department and agency chiefs that the CIOs working for them have been tasked with greater roles and responsibilities by OMB, as well as greater accountability, in controlling technology spending. Keep reading →