The National Security Agency is launching a mobile device capability at the end of this year that will allow its personnel to securely access classified information with their smartphones and tablet computers.
The program, which is a joint effort with the Defense Information Systems Agency, could potentially provide the military services with similar secure information access capabilities. Keep reading →
For the past three years, we’ve been studying how the consumerization of IT has been impacting enterprises, including government. As Unisys’ third annual Consumerization of IT research study indicates, the growth of mobile device use in government and the private sector continues – with 44% of workers now using smartphones at work. That’s a 300% increase from three years ago, according to Forrester Consulting, which conducted the study for Unisys.
Tablets, which were rarely used at all two years ago, are now increasingly becoming the computing device of choice for many in today’s workforce. Driven by the adoption of new end user mobile technologies, government agencies are beginning to create innovative new ways of conducting business. Keep reading →
In an important move aimed at advancing the Defense Department’s use of commercially-available mobile devices and services, the Defense Information System Agency announced it is seeking proposals to provide the U.S. Military with mobile device management capabilities and a dedicated mobile application store.
The announcement took the form of a request for proposals (RFP) posted to the federal government procurement website, FedBizOpps.gov. Keep reading →
What if you could call your city public works department, located about 45 minutes from your home, request a recycling sticker, and have a city worker show up at your door 18 minutes later? That’s the power of Boston’s new City Worker App.
Piloted last year, the new mobile app integrates seamlessly with the city’s existing 311 system for non-emergency information calls and service requests. It takes all of the service requests made by citizens for potholes, graffiti, streetlight outages, and even recycling stickers, and routes them to the Android-based mobile device of the nearest work crew from the responsible department. Keep reading →
New austerity is here to stay – coupled with more demand for user-friendly citizen engagement from our government workforce. And cybersecurity concerns are growing as well, as our enemies become more sophisticated and inventive. How can Federal agencies meet all three pressures – lowering costs while improving services and keeping data safe?
More than ever before, innovative technologies are needed across government, to keep the government workforce engaged while also helping them to effectively deliver support for the mission. Government is working hard today to implement the infrastructure needed to deliver more services, increase and enhance interaction and enable greater workforce mobility and citizen engagement. Mobility is growing in importance, even as cybersecurity becomes a bigger issue. Despite the promise of mobility to bring greater productivity and flexibility, 78 percent of federal IT professionals said mobility also brings greater security risks, according to a recent VMware survey. Keep reading →
The Department of Veterans Affairs will lock employees out of its networks if they fail to take the required yearly cybersecurity and privacy training on time – 365 days after their last refresher course.
VA CIO Roger Baker announced the policy last week to button down security and privacy on the VA’s internal and external internet sites that have been hit by security breaches and privacy violations – both internal and external – on a regular basis. An employee who doesn’t meet the yearly deadline will be blocked out on Day 366. Keep reading →
Negligent insiders are the leading cause of data breaches at U.S. companies and public sector agencies, according to a new study by the Ponemon Institute. At the same time, malicious or criminal attacks are on the rise and are more costly to organizations than data breaches triggered by employees or system glitches, according to the study.
In its report, the 2011 Cost of Data Breach Study, the Michigan-based research organization found that 39% of data breaches in the U.S. involved employee negligence. Keep reading →