Alerts This Week
Warning Icon 1 775
Alerts This Week
Warning Icon 1 775

Government - Page 30

We have thousands of posts on a wide variety of open source and security topics, conveniently organized for searching or just browsing.

When federal security budgets are cut, the data that stops hackers from breaking into your Linux servers begins to dry up. ...

Austria’s Armed Forces have confirmed a major shift in ...

For Linux admins and open-source advocates, the German ...

Discover Government News

LS Hmepg 337x500 34 Esm H267

DOD Directive 8570.1: Training Standards For Contractors' Compliance

data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20100%20100%22%3E%3C/svg%3E

Contractors who are serious about getting Defense Department contracts should make sure now that their employees who have information assurance roles meet the standards set by DOD Directive 8570.1, according to panelists who spoke this morning at an Information Technology Association of America event. "There's not a downside to contractors being certified," said Phyllis Scott, president of training firm TTSC. Contracts will require it, and contractors who are already certified will have an immediate advantage, she said.

LS Hmepg 337x500 34 Esm H267

UK Computer Misuse Act Prohibits Denial of Service Attacks in Cybersecurity

data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20100%20100%22%3E%3C/svg%3E

There had been concern that Britain's Computer Misuse Act, written in the days before the World Wide Web, allowed denial of service attacks to fall through a loophole. These are attacks in which a web or email server is deliberately flooded with information to the point of collapse. The 1990 legislation described an offence of doing anything with criminal intent "which causes an unauthorised modification of the contents of any computer"; the question was whether that covered denial of service attacks. When a court cleared teenager David Lennon in November 2005 on charges of sending five million emails to his former employer

LS Hmepg 337x500 34 Esm H267

US Customs Automated Targeting System Risk Assessments for 40 Years

data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20100%20100%22%3E%3C/svg%3E

US Customs and Border Protection issued a notice in the Federal Register yesterday which detailed the agency's massive database that keeps risk assessments on every traveler entering or leaving the country. Citizens who are concerned that their information is inaccurate are all but out of luck: the system "may not be accessed under the Privacy Act for the purpose of contesting the content of the record." The system in question is the Automated Targeting System, which is associated with the previously-existing Treasury Enforcement Communications System. TECS was built to screen people and assets that moved in and out of the US, and its database contains more than one billion records that are accessible by more than 30,000 users at 1,800 sites around the country. Customs has adapted parts of the TECS system to its own use and now plans to screen all passengers, inbound and outbound cargo, and ships.

LS Hmepg 337x500 34 Esm H267

Australia Prepares: Suicide Hackers Threaten Critical Infrastructure

data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20100%20100%22%3E%3C/svg%3E

Australia is preparing for cyber-terrorism attacks from "suicide hackers", who will aim to bring down critical infrastructure for a "cause" and not worry about facing 30 years in jail for their actions. So far there have been no major acts of cyber-terrorism -- where hackers take down parts of the critical infrastructure by breaking into power, water, transport or even air traffic control systems -- but the subject has been discussed a great deal. On Tuesday, Colonel Paul Straughair, the director of network centric warfare at the Australian Army and part of the Australian Department of Defence, said he saw "no logical reason" why suicide hackers would not strike in the future.

LS Hmepg 337x500 34 Esm H267

Cybersecurity Chief Purdy Resigns Following Contract Scrutiny

data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20100%20100%22%3E%3C/svg%3E

The Bush administration's cybersecurity chief, who worked under an unusual agreement with a private university that does extensive business with the office he manages, is leaving his job. Donald ``Andy'' Purdy Jr. will step down as acting director of the National Cyber Security Division, part of the Department of Homeland Security. A government spokesman, Jarrod Agen, declined to comment on Purdy's plans, but colleagues circulated an invitation to his farewell party next week. Purdy worked at Homeland Security under a two-year contract with Carnegie Mellon University that expires Oct. 3. Under the contract, the government paid Purdy $245,481 in salary and benefits each year, not including travel reimbursements; Carnegie Mellon paid him an additional $43,320 a year.

LS Hmepg 337x500 34 Esm H267

Garcia Appointed As Homeland Security Cybersecurity Chief

data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20100%20100%22%3E%3C/svg%3E

Chertoff said on Monday that Gregory Garcia, who has been working at a Washington-area trade association, would become the department's first assistant secretary for cybersecurity, with responsibility for advising agencies and the private sector. The announcement ends a vacancy at Homeland Security that lasted more than 14 months and a wait that drew criticism from members of Congress, who it said demonstrated that Chertoff has not taken the topic seriously.

LS Hmepg 337x500 34 Esm H267

DHS Announces Gregory Garcia as New Chief for Cybersecurity Team

data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20100%20100%22%3E%3C/svg%3E

The Department of Homeland Security has picked a new cyber-security czar. After a yearlong search, the federal government named former ITAA (Information Technology Association of America) vice president Gregory Garcia to be its overseer for cyber-security in the United States. According to a statement released Sept. 18 by DHS secretary Michael Chertoff, Garcia will brings the "right mix of experience in government and the private sector" to succeed in the role of Assistant Secretary for Cyber Security and Telecommunications.

LS Hmepg 337x500 34 Esm H267

DHS Cyber Storm Report: Critical Infrastructure Defense Overview

data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20100%20100%22%3E%3C/svg%3E

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security released an overview this week of its cyberattack exercise which simulated the government's response to a large-scale disruption of the critical infrastructure and the Internet. More than 100 organizations in over 60 locations and five countries participated in the exercise in February of this year. According to a previously published presentation (PDF) outlining the scenario, the exercise pitted the responders against a mish-mash of anti-globalization cyberattackers.

LS Hmepg 337x500 34 Esm H267

UK Government's Liberty Alliance Award for Federated Identity Management

data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20100%20100%22%3E%3C/svg%3E

The UK government has won an award from the Liberty Alliance for its efforts in developing and rolling out federated identity management solutions. The Alliance, backed by leading financial services firms and major IT suppliers, promotes the development of open standards for federated identity management. The UK government was among the winners of the Alliance's 2006 IDDY (IDentity Deployment of the Year) Awards. The awards recognise identity management deployments that are delivering "real-world value to businesses, governments, citizens and consumers around the globe". Deutsche Telekom, the UK government and New York State Education Agencies (EduTech) were selected as winners by a judging panel of international identity experts.

LS Hmepg 337x500 34 Esm H267

Congress Critiques DHS Cybersecurity Efforts at Recent Hearings

data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20100%20100%22%3E%3C/svg%3E

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday sustained more bashing of its cybersecurity efforts from politicians and government auditors. In what has become a familiar refrain, a chorus of Republicans and Democrats--all from the U.S. House of Representatives panel on telecommunications and the Internet--urged the agency to get its act together and appoint a long-awaited cybersecurity czar.

LS Hmepg 337x500 34 Esm H267

Five Years After 9/11: Federal Agencies' Cybersecurity Readiness Concerns

data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20100%20100%22%3E%3C/svg%3E

It has been five years since hijackers slammed jetliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing nearly 3,0000 people, but nine out of 10 information security professionals believe federal government agencies are unprepared should the terrorist attacks turn to cyberspace. According to a poll conducted by vulnerability and risk management provider nCircle of 395 IT executives, 85 percent believe federal government is not ready for a cyber version of Sept. 11, 2001.

LS Hmepg 337x500 34 Esm H267

Essential Cyber Security Practices for Government Effectiveness

data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20100%20100%22%3E%3C/svg%3E

Ronald Reagan once famously said: "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'" Inside the government itself, the most terrifying words in the English language may be: "The information security office is here to facilitate your office's goals and objectives."

LS Hmepg 337x500 34 Esm H267

Cyberwar Strategies and Adaptation to Evolving Cyber Threats

data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20viewBox=%220%200%20100%20100%22%3E%3C/svg%3E

Cyberwar is changing, and network defense must adapt, two leading executives told a military audience at the Air Force Information Technology Conference at Auburn University's Montgomery campus earlier this month. "We are at a much more dangerous place today than we were four or five years ago," said Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive officer. The perpetrators of cyberattacks have shifted in recent years from amateur hackers seeking notoriety to organized criminal enterprises with financial or hostile goals, he said.

Your message here