TSP's G Fund Helps Delay Debt Ceiling
CBP Could Escape Furloughs
Feds Flock to TSP's L Funds
EIG 2013 as Told by Your Tweets
Boldly Go Where No Fed's Gone Before
The Big Squeeze: Defense Under Sequester
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.
Small N.C. cloud company nabs first FedRAMP security certification
December 27, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
Autonomic Resources, a small business in North Carolina, has earned the first-ever security certification to install cloud services governmentwide. The General Services Administration, the government’s purchasing agency, stuck to a self-imposed year-end deadline for issuing the seal of approval under the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, or FedRAMP. FedRAMP ...
FBI is on the lookout for financial losses unrelated to fiscal cliff
December 27, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
Fiscal cliff or not, the government will be scanning the financial markets for signs of million dollar losses in 2013, as a cyber posse threatens to empty consumer accounts at U.S. banks. Data security firm RSA in October uncovered one of the largest organized plots to hijack online banking transfers, ...
New mandate would require military contractors to report cyber breaches
December 26, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
This story has been updated with comments from the Defense Department. The Defense authorization bill approved by Congress last week would require contractors to tell the Pentagon about penetrations of company-owned networks that handle military data. If President Obama signs the legislation into law, it would make permanent part of ...
CBP considers open source license plate readers to save cash
December 21, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
This story has been updated to include comment from ICE. In a cost-cutting move, the Homeland Security Department wants to replace more than 500 brand-name systems that identify vehicle license plates at border stations with generic technology. The plan is to phase in a more comprehensive open architecture model that ...
U.S. and China to fight online pedophiles together, State says
December 20, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
U.S. and Chinese delegates have pledged to cooperate on suppressing online pornography, according to State Department officials. The U.S.-China Joint Liaison Group on Law Enforcement Cooperation met this week in Guangzhou, China to discuss various transnational criminal threats. In past years, cybercrime and intellectual property violations have entered into the ...
Agencies might have to obliterate private photos on devices that go AWOL
December 19, 2012 Employees at agencies such as Customs and Border Protection who convince their bosses to let them work on their own smartphones and tablets might have to allow security managers to install special software that erases stored information -- both business and personal -- if their smartphone goes missing. The bring-your-own-device ...
Costs mount as NASA responds to October data breach
December 18, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
The fallout from the theft of a NASA laptop bearing personal information on 10,000 current and former agency employees could cost taxpayers nearly $960,000, according to the space agency’s inspector general. On Oct. 31, an unencrypted machine was taken from the vehicle of a female NASA headquarters employee. The breach ...
Online profiteers expected to hit up Newtown sympathizers
December 17, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
Beware of fraudulent or virus-laden websites targeting sympathizers of the victims of Friday’s school shooting and gun control advocates, say cyber researchers. Following the losses in Newtown, Conn., unknown entities have registered new domain names related to the events, Mark Baggett, who monitors malicious activity on the Web for the ...
GSA has yet to approve any cloud products under FedRAMP
December 17, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
Up against a self-imposed Dec. 31 deadline, the government’s purchasing arm has yet to endorse any cloud products for quick acquisition. Some applicants and testers say the General Services Administration has been mum about the hoped for announcement on approvals. Confusion over paperwork has complicated efforts for the Federal Risk ...
DHS agrees to outside study on cancer risks of airport body scanners
December 14, 2012
FROM NEXTGOV
The Transportation Security Administration has tapped the National Academy of Sciences to probe the health risks of body scans to passengers and pilots after years of pressure from civil liberties groups and Congress. The study is limited to radiation and safety testing, and will not examine the privacy implications of ...
