Kundra Creates Blog to Accompany Federal IT Dashboard

Vivek Kundra, the Federal Chief Information Officer, has started a blog to accompany the Federal IT Dashboard that was launched just two weeks ago. The blog is designed to start a conversation on the public’s views of the site and share information that is not included on the actual IT Dashboard site.

According to Kundra, “e can’t simply make this an exercise in federal agency reporting, that is why…

IT Industry Recession Proof And Wants College Grads

 ”We’re hiring as fast as we can. The past six months have been the peak for us”, said the CEO of Platinum solutions Laila Rossi; not something you would expect to hear given the current global recession. Yet according to the Washington Post  the most expanding industry is the information technology industry due to the steady pace of government contracts and technology emphasis under the new Obama Administration. Citing the Reston research firm Input, the…

Independence Day Cyber Assault: Who’s Responsible?

On July 4, the websites of the Departments of Defense, State, and Homeland Security, and more than two dozen other websites in the US and South Korea experienced distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS).  This kind of brute-force attack has millions of zombie computers controlled by hackers (botnets) try to access secure content at once to overwhelm security protocols and bring websites offline.  Imagine someone installing remote controls on millions of cars…

SAIC Acquires Cyber Firm Atlan Inc.

Senate $42.9 Billion Spending Bill: Quick Glance

In a Senate vote of 84-6 Congress approved a $42.9 billion budget for the 2010 fiscal year. A version of the Department of Homeland Security bill was passed by the House last month. Here are the highlights: 

 $10.1 billion: for US border control, emphasizing the US Mexican border in lieu of spiked weapons and drug trafficking in recent months.  $400 million for funding and research in cyber security, a 27% increase from the DHS 2009 bill  an…

The New New Internet Interview With Technolytics Institute Founder: Obama Needs To Get The Ball Rolling

 The New New Internet conducted an enlightening interview with computer security expert and founder of the executive think-tank Technolytics Institute  Kevin G. Coleman regarding the current state of US cybersecurity. Coleman is frustrated by the lack of government timeliness to cybersecurity, bearing the recent July 4th cyber breach in mind.  Accountability in both the public and private sectors is key to solving the issue…

Sifting Through The July 4th Cyber Attack: Experts Explain

Although experts believe it could take weeks to find out who hacked into US and South Korean government websites, as well as prominent South Korean Banks and the Nasdaq, considering the timing and the victims of the attacks, North Korea is the prime suspect. 

The denial-of-service attacks slowed down computers and some are reported to have Trojan-malware elements, but overall the attack does not rank high on a global scale, compared with alleged Russian computer attacks…

Study Finds Social Security Numbers to be Compromised

Researchers from Carnegie Melon University have found that Social Security numbers can be guessed based on easy to access information, such as individual’s birthday and the town in which they were born.

Social Security  uses the same formula for all of the numbers, the first three numbers are based on the zip code on the application, the forth and fifth are based…

South Korean and US Government Websites Hacked: Is This Just The Beginning?

On July 4th United States government computers were hacked by unknown persons. The computer attacks effected the US Department of Treasury, the Federal Trade Commission, the Transportation Department, the Secret Service and other government agencies. Reports have also surfaced indicating the attack spread as wide as the Pentagon and the New York Stock Exchange. It is unclear how many denile-of-service attacks effected US computers; the White House has only acknowledged that a cyber…

Interview With The New New Internet: Cyber Expert Does Not Believe In ‘Urban Myths’

Senior Fellow at the military think-tank Global Securities.org and an expert in malicious software and computer virus’, George Smith recently interviewed with The New New Internet about the Obama Administration’s cyber security agenda. Smith was disapointed with the use of ‘scare tactics’ as an argument for change in cybersecurity and believes the 60-Day review contains the same content as previous administrations….