Furlough 'Consistency and Fairness'
Innovation in Government Dips
TSP Funds Stay Positive in April
5 Agencies with the Most Disconnected Leadership
No Bonuses for VA Benefits Execs
Will You Be Furloughed?
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.
Feds Urge Major Industries To Take Steps To Deflect Data Wipe Virus
May 1, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
The Homeland Security Department is asking that operators of key U.S. networks follow specific precautions to stave off a virus that last summer erased computers at Middle Eastern oil companies. A new bulletin for energy producers and other critical infrastructure businesses provides 31 "tactical" and "strategic” repellants for Shamoon, malicious ...
NIST Reworks Cyber Guidelines for the Hacking Era
April 30, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
The National Institute of Standards and Technology has rewritten federal cybersecurity standards for the first time in nearly a decade to address evolving smartphone vulnerabilities and foreign manipulation of the supply chain, among other new threats. The 457-page government computer security bible, officially called "SP (Special Publication) 800-53," has not ...
Authorities Are Mum on Information Sharing During Boston Bombings
April 29, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
Homeland Security and FBI officials declined to say whether they’ve been using a controversial communications network in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing designed to share classified information across federal, state and local jurisdictions. A March 2012 Homeland Security directive deemed the Homeland Secure Data Network, or HSDN, "the ...
Is There a Bomb in That Burger? The Pentagon Wants to Know.
April 25, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
The Defense Department in recent weeks has invested $5.7 million in research to detect bombs concealed beneath dense goo, such as meat, sludge and animal remains. Homemade bombs -- improvised explosive devices in Pentagon terms -- took on new meaning for many following the Boston marathon bombing last week. No ...
What's the White House Policy on Neutralizing Damaging Tweets?
April 24, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
The Obama administration's social media outreach apparently does not extend to countering market-moving falsified tweets about the White House. Midday on Tuesday, a hacked Associated Press Twitter account informed the public that blasts at the White House had harmed the president. The Dow tumbled for a bit in response. The ...
Investigators: Chinese Government is Behind 96 Percent of Cyberspy Ops
April 23, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
Hackers connected to the Chinese regime were responsible for more than 95 percent of cyber espionage cases last year worldwide, according to government authorities and private investigators. An annual breach report compiled by Verizon traced the operations using known hallmarks of Chinese government interference as well as subpoenaed classified intelligence, ...
Encrypted Federal Radios Can Be as Revealing as Police Scanners
April 22, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
Federal radios with encryption can be nearly as insecure as the Boston Police scanners that allowed the public to tune in to the hunt for a suspected bomber, research shows. The Homeland Security Department and other agencies are buying more mobile devices that use P25, a set of wireless voice ...
Air Force and Army Disclose Budget for Hacking Operations
April 19, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
The Pentagon has for the first time detailed $30 million in spending on Air Force cyberattack operations and significant new Army funding and staff needs for exploiting opponent computers. Since 2011, top military brass have acknowledged the United States has the capability to hack back if threatened by adversaries in ...
Supercomputer Now Focused on Classified Nuclear Deterrence
April 17, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
The Energy Department has dedicated a new supercomputer to monitoring the health of the nation's atomic arsenal, officials for the U.S. nuclear program announced this week. The National Nuclear Security Administration successfully shifted one-year-old “Sequoia” from operating unclassified trial simulations to running classified replications of nuclear blasts. The IBM-built supercomputer, ...
Transit Systems Apparently Not a Target in Boston Marathon Bombing
April 16, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
Authorities did not halt all subway trains surrounding the Boston Marathon finish line following Monday's violent blasts, likely because there was no indication transit systems were potential targets, counterterrorism experts say. On Tuesday, a marathon runner and spectator told Nextgov the couple was on Boston's "T" subway system, about two ...
