Government Policy, Business and Technology

Federal Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) and the Rise of Cloud-based Cognitive Computing

U.S. defense and intelligence organizations leverage analytic tools to help gather intelligence, investigate and deter a wide array of cybersecurity threats.  Open source intelligence (OSINT), a primary weapon in their arsenals, is quickly evolving to embrace cloud technologies and cognitive computing (artificial intelligence). These latest...

Government Endpoint Security: Current Initiatives and Best Practice Tips
Wednesday, July 26, 2017 at 2:00pm

Governments are among the most highly targeted networks in the world. From political campaigns to government personnel to intelligence and troop planning, government data is of great interest to nation-states and others for a variety of reasons. Accessing sensitive government data means accessing the assets...

18F is looking for crowdsourced penetration testing systems to hit login.gov

Fedscoop: The General Services Administration’s 18F digital team is making strides in developing the open-source login.gov, a single sign-on for government services, and is now looking to do some penetration testing.

GSA released a sources sought notice late last week in an...

A Natural Evolution: From Data Center Consolidation to IT Optimization

As federal IT organizations make progress consolidating and modernizing their IT infrastructures, the impact of legacy platforms, technologies and traditional data centers still weighs heavy, along with each agency’s ability to attract and maintain the skill sets and applications needed to meet 21st century requirements. If...

Breaking Down the Walls in Government DevOps Initiatives
Wednesday, August 9, 2017 at 2:00pm

Agencies are quickly embracing modern technologies and methodologies to increase time to market and decrease their costs of mission critical applications. Among the leading technologies being adopted is microservices with DevOps being the contending new methodology to support it. This webinar will explore the basics...

7 States Partner with SANS Institute to Offer Free Training, Grow Cybersecurity Workforce

Government Technology: Extending its collaboration with the SANS Institute, the cooperative research and education organization that trains security professionals worldwide, Virginia will join six other states to host CyberStart this summer, a free online cybersecurity training exercise through which students 16 and older can earn thousands of dollars in...

Flipping the 80/20 Rule to Gain Agile Application Development

Because agencies typically spend 80 percent of IT budgets managing legacy systems and only 20 percent on new technology -- the more agencies can adopt agile application development methods, the faster they will increase efficiency and improve performance.  Agility in software development requires keeping code...

Trump Refugee Restrictions Allowed for Now; Ban on Grandparents Is Rejected

The New York Times: WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily upheld broad restrictions against refugees entering the United States but allowed grandparents and other relatives of American residents to come while legal challenges to the Trump administration’s travel ban move forward.

Solutions to Safeguarding Growing Cloud Data

IT and security managers in the federal government—like their private sector counterparts—are facing daunting challenges when it comes to safeguarding data throughout their organization. Trends such as the increased use of cloud platforms and mobile technology, along with the growing sophistication of attacks launched by hackers...

Trump scolds Republicans on healthcare; CBO sees 32 million uninsured

Reuters: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump took Senate Republicans to task on Wednesday for failing to reach agreement on overhauling Obamacare, as a new report showed 32 million Americans would lose health insurance if senators opt to repeal the law without a replacement.

At Midway Point, 2017 Is 2nd-Hottest Year on Record

Climate Central: “Personally, I wasn't expecting it to be as warm as it has been,” Ahira Sanchez-Lugo, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration climate scientist, said in an email. “After the decline of the strong El Niño I was expecting the values to drop a bit and rank among the top five warmest years. This year has been extremely...

Finding the ROI of Online Programs

Campus Technology: Are schools overpaying for the creation and delivery of their online courses and programs? Is the investment worthwhile? If the expense could be brought down through scaling, would that make online education more sustainable?