NIST IT Lab Head Says Mobility, Big Data Standards the Focus for 2012

The National Institute of Standards and Technology will increase its focus on big data and increased use of mobile devices in 2012, a NIST lab director told InformationWeek. 

NIST Information Technology Laboratory Director Chuck Romaine said that NIST is working to issue standards for big data technologies.

NIST helped publish a report…

NIST Panel Says Public Safety Should Use Unlicensed Spectrum

A National Institute of Standards and Technology-appointed panel is recommending a broadband public safety network use unlicensed spectrum, according to a paper dated Jan. 24.

NIST’s Visiting Committee on Advanced Technology said the 700 megahertz spectrum range, known as the D block, for public safety is attractive because of its propagation and penetration characteristics.

The panel…

NIST Wants Security Beyond Passwords for Cyber Transactions

The National Institute of Standards and Technology will award $10 million for pilot projects aimed at creating a trusted online identity using aspects other than passwords or simple IDs.

NIST said on Wednesday it launched a competition for the funds, which will range from $1.25 million to $2 million per year.

A NIST-hosted program office for…

NIST Approves Cubic Algorithms for RF Transceivers

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has validated two cryptographic algorithms produced by Cubic‘s global tracking solutions subsidiary, Cubic announced Tuesday.

The validation means the AES-CCM and mist™ DRBG algorithms have met NIST’s information security guidelines. NIST says the algorithm validation is a prerequisite to the agency’s validation program for…

NIST Looking for Biometric Fingerprint Scanner

The National Institute of Standards and Technology announced it is accepting proposals for a handheld fingerprint sensor.

The anti-resistant handheld device would be capable of biometric acquisition. It would be controlled through a wireless service, including a self-contained battery and power source, according to NIST’s Special Publication 500-288: Specification for WS-Biometric Devices.

NIST outlined a two-part proposal process….

NIST Rolls Out New Authentification Guidelines

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has put out a revised guideline for electronic authentication for verification of users of their Web-based services.   The original Electronic Authentication Guideline was published in 2006, addressing agencies who handled user identification. However, NIST issued revisions as it indicated that there was an assumption…

Contractors with Large IT Force, Capabilities Set to be Top Dogs in Growing Cyber Market

Reports wide have indicated that as federal spending on information technology will slow, spending on cybersecurity will not follow that same trend.

The Washington Post reported that this trend will take place between 2011 and 2016 with cybersecurity remaining the outlier. 

This may come to no surprise when taking a recent Symantec recent

NIST Adds DNA, Footprints to Biometric Standard

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has added DNA and footprint information to its biometric standard, which details the type and amount of information that forensic scientists can share across their networks.

NIST said in its announcement that this is the first international standard to address sharing of DNA data. NIST also…

NIST Releases New Dataset to Combat Cyber Attacks

A group of computer scientists says they have enlarged a database designed to improve applications that help programmers find weaknesses in software.

The team from the National Institute of Standards and Technology has released the SAMATE Reference Dataset version 4.0, a free online tool designed to assist programmers fortify their creations against cyber hackers in addition to…

NASA Planning Cloud Storefront for Scientists

NASA is planning to offer the agency’s scientists a cloud marketplace, or storefront, allowing them to determine their computing needs and access cloud services from any location.

NASA is cited as a success story in government cloud computing for its Nebula cloud computing platform, a private cloud platform using open source software, according to a report in