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US Offers $10M to Jump-Start ID Security Tech Research February 07, 2012 
Identity theft and privacy breaches are reported almost daily. For example, last month two utilities in New York reported that an employee of a software contractor allowed unauthorized access to a database containing social security, date of birth and other information. That same day the DoJ reported the arrest of three women in California for engaging in a scheme to use stolen identities to illegally collect tax refunds.
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Federal CIO Aims to Goose US Agencies Into Mobile-izing January 31, 2012 
The sharp growth in the use of smartphones and tablets has spurred the U.S. government to keep pace with the private sector in the use of mobile devices. While federal agencies have been incorporating mobile technology for several years, the rate of adoption could be -- and should be -- far greater, contends Steven VanRoekel, the federal government's chief information officer.
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Guardians of the Grid: Agencies Unite to Bulk Up Utility Cybersecurity January 24, 2012 
It's one thing to have a computer system at a major bank, retailer or government agency invaded by cybercriminals. At best, such hacking incidents cause minor annoyances, and at worst, they result in high-cost privacy invasions. But what if the hackers get into the power systems that make the entire Internet possible?
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US Cautions on 'Boot Up' Cyberthreat January 17, 2012 
The routine is almost universal. Every day, millions of workers turn on their computers, take a second or two for a sip of coffee as their desktop or laptop "boots up," and then get to work. In those few seconds, the basic input-output system, or BIOS, of the computer loads the protocols that actually run the PC -- in effect, acting the same as the worker's shot of coffee.
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New Challenges in Store for Customer-Facing Gov Websites January 11, 2012 
Just how much information about the U.S. government is available on the Internet is anybody's guess. But U.S. citizens should be comfortable knowing that if they are persistent enough, they should find much of what they are looking for regarding the federal government online -- whether it's tax information from the Internal Revenue Service, benefits data from the Social Security Administration, or some obscure economic table.
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Appointment of Consumer Protection Head Ignites Political Furor January 05, 2012 
President Barack Obama named Richard Cordray as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau via a recess appointment on Wednesday. It was a controversial move for the president, prompting Senate Republicans to accuse him of making a power grab and abusing executive authority. Indeed, Republican resistance to confirming the former Ohio attorney general for the post prompted the recess appointment.
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Hey Big Spenders: Federal Infosec Market Poised for a Growth Spurt January 03, 2012 
Cybersecurity is such a pressing issue that the U.S. government will be dedicating a good chunk of its annual information technology budget to protecting data systems from breaches, hackers and other threats. Tthe number of cybersecurity incidents reported by federal agencies has increased from 5,503 in 2006 to 41,776 incidents in 2010, according to the GAO.
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The Disasters of 2011 December 26, 2011 
If there was ever a year for train wrecks, 2011 was it. It is that time when we look back at the screwy decisions executives made last year, and be thankful that we aren't them. There were a number of career-limiting moves last year that warrant a top spot on my Bozo meter. HP and Cisco are contenders, with their Touchpad and Flip flops, but there's another company more deserving of the crown.
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Feds on Successful IT Procurement: This Is How It's Done December 20, 2011 
Federal information technology managers -- often cited for poor execution of procurement practices -- now have some project role models to follow for successfully managing IT investments. The federal General Accountability Office has issued a report on seven case studies of successful government IT procurement projects.
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Feds Aim to Lock Down the Cloud December 13, 2011 
Cloud technology is supposed to greatly increase the efficiency and productivity of electronic information systems. For federal agencies, though, cloud migration has been a bit of a "catch-22" proposition. All the intense preparation work for migrating to the cloud -- including efforts to resolve important data security issues -- consumes scarce time and resources.
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US Agency Sharpens Tool for Protecting Software Code December 06, 2011 
Software programmers work hard to produce secure, error-free code. Of course, bad things can happen -- but really, with increasingly diligent effort, how many things can go wrong? Quite a few, according to NIST. Because cybersecurity is a national goal affecting both the private and public sector, NIST and DHS are involved in a joint program to protect the development and use of software.
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White House, Congress Renew Cybersecurity Push November 29, 2011 
In a rare showing of bipartisanship, members of Congress and the White House are trying to breathe new life into the effort to enact national cybersecurity legislation. In a recent flurry of activity, mainly between the Obama administration and the Senate, the issue got back on the legislative track.
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Choppy Waters Ahead for the Federal IT Market, Part 2 November 28, 2011 
A special congressional panel is facing a deadline of Nov. 23 to propose more than a trillion dollars in federal budget reductions over 10 years. If the panel fails, an automatic budget-cutting mechanism will take effect. Either way, the U.S. government will be launching a major austerity program that will affect virtually all agencies -- and all government contractors.
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US Agencies Cultivate Next-Gen Cyberpolice Force November 22, 2011 
Children often focus on neighborhood role models as their first glimpse of what they want to be when they grow up. School nurse, perhaps. Or firefighter. Or police officer. In a future increasingly consumed by information technology, who will be the first responders to provide first aid for a computer scrape, douse a virtual IT fire, or catch a cybercriminal?
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Choppy Waters Ahead for the Federal IT Market, Part 1 November 21, 2011 
The big number always seems to be there. The big number is the amount of money the U.S. federal government invests in information technology. In constant dollars, that number has hovered slightly above or slightly below $80 billion per year since 2007, according to TechAmerica. That funding level is an inviting target for vendors and is frequently cited as the size of the federal IT market.
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The Federal Government's Map of the Clouds November 15, 2011 
The U.S. government's plan to shift major chunks of existing and future information technology programs to cloud-based systems has proven to be easy to say but harder to do. Technical, cultural and financial issues are frequently raised by agency managers as barriers to adopting cloud technology. Various initiatives have been launched to encourage cloud adoption at the federal level.
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