Is Your Privacy Worth 50 Foiled Terror Plots?
Postal Service Eyes Cuba
Tangherlini As GSA's Mr. Fix-It?
Lew Cleans Up Signature for the Nation's Currency
The Plan to Open More Military Jobs to Women
Should Leaders Ever Lie?
AUTHOR ARCHIVES
Aliya Sternstein
Senior Correspondent
Aliya Sternstein reports on cybersecurity and homeland security systems for Nextgov. She has covered technology for nine years at such publications as National Journal's TechnologyDaily, Federal Computer Week and Forbes. Before joining Government Executive, she covered agriculture and derivatives trading for Congressional Quarterly. She has been a guest commentator on C-SPAN, WTOP and Federal News Radio. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
Auditors and IRS Pan Tax Regulations for Bitcoins
June 17, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
Federal auditors are recommending that the Internal Revenue Service not issue regulations for taxpayers on filing returns for the money earned through the exchange of virtual currencies, such as Bitcoins. The tax agency has neither the money nor the time to craft compliance rules for the emerging market, according to ...
IG: DHS Does Not Track Security Training of System Administrator Contractors
June 17, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
The Homeland Security Department does not keep tabs on whether contractors that monitor vulnerabilities on federal networks have undergone training, according to a new inspector general audit. These private sector system administrators support CyberScope, a central reservoir for incoming streams of data summarizing every federal agency's computer security posture. The ...
The ‘Ramp’ Into the Federal Cloud Market Is More Like a Climb
June 14, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
A program aimed at simplifying the required security documentation for cloud contractors is more of an obstacle course than an access way into the government sector, some agency and industry officials say. The Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, or FedRAMP, has blessed only five out of about 100 vendors ...
Contractor Work on $2 Billion NSA Computer Compounds Is Kept Quiet
June 12, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
Contractors working for the intelligence community are speeding toward completion of two data centers worth $2 billion total, while a national controversy erupts over what those data centers might be up to. Combined, the centers span 214 acres -- close to one and a half times the size of the ...
GSA Considers Mobile Options for Issuing Federal Employee IDs
June 11, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
Agencies could soon use a mobile device to register the identities of federal personnel who sign up for workforce credentials, according to contracting documents. The General Services Administration, which sells workforce ID cards to agencies that do not want to manage credentialing in-house, is researching the feasibility of this arrangement ...
Contractors to Handle Marines Corps' Cyber Arsenal
June 10, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
One-third of the 1,000 personnel slated to handle cyber weapons for Marine Corps troops overseas will be contractors, according to the chief of the service's cyber command. Providing outsiders with inside knowledge of the military's cyber operations raises questions about the risk of leaks, now that a Booz Allen Hamilton ...
Administration Declassifies Information to Defend Citizen Spying Programs
June 7, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
The director of national intelligence late Thursday night issued statements asserting that recent media reports about federal surveillance of U.S. residents contained inaccuracies and he released previously classified information to demonstrate that the monitoring is legal. DNI James Clapper's pronouncements were triggered by reports from The Guardian and The Washington ...
HP, Lockheed Make the Cloud Security Cut
June 6, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
Lockheed Martin and HP have been entered into a slowly growing rolodex of contractors that meet security requirements for offering cloud services governmentwide. The two veteran vendors join data center giant Amazon, established federal contractor CGI and a small North Carolina outfit called Autonomic Resources on the list, under the ...
Manning Used Dell Computers With Expired Warranties in Highly-Secure Iraq Facility
June 6, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
The soldier who allegedly aided anti-secrets website WikiLeaks did his dirty work in a secure chamber on a Dell laptop with an expired warranty, according to computer serial numbers disclosed during the trial of Army Pfc. Bradley Manning. Manning stands accused of aiding the enemy, among other charges, by downloading ...
Pentagon Taps Two Firms for Plan X Cyberops Contracts
June 4, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
Data Tactics Corp. and Raytheon have won the first slices of a contract to construct next-generation cyber weapons, according to the Defense Department. Governmentwide budget cuts have slowed the pace of “Plan X,” a Pentagon project announced in August 2012 aimed at conceiving technologies to drive cyber offensive operations. But ...
