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GSA Mishandled Executive Bonuses
EIG 2013 as Told by Your Tweets
Infographic: Nominee Limbo
Will You Be Furloughed?
Boldly Go Where No Fed's Gone Before
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.
Foreign Investors Can Apply Online for Green Cards This Summer
March 29, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
Beginning this summer, foreigners that help finance job-creating U.S. ventures will be able to apply online for visas through the federal government's long-suffering effort to computerize immigration applications. Citizenship and residency casework largely has been paper-based since the days of Ellis Island. Much of it still is. But on Thursday ...
Anti-Hacking Laws Hamper Private Efforts to Hunt Cybercriminals
March 27, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
Public-private partnerships can take years to clinch cybercrime cases due to privacy laws, according to one security provider that cooperates with authorities worldwide. Tokyo-based Trend Micro every day monitors a proprietary stash of statistics on the activity of individuals participating in the "underground economy" of crimeware sales. The database tracks ...
Budget Cuts Hit E-Verify
March 26, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
Anti-fraud enhancements for a worker identification tool that is considered key to immigration reform might be postponed because of blanket funding cuts that began this month. If there is any consensus on how to handle the nation's 11 million undocumented aliens, it is that employers should be required to confirm ...
TSA to Heed Formal Gripes Over Body Scans
March 25, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
The Transportation Security Administration is letting airplane passengers formally critique its $2 billion body scanning program -- a requirement for substantial federal programs that TSA had skirted for about four years. The concession follows a 2011 court order siding with the Electronic Privacy Information Center in part of a lawsuit. ...
BlackBerry's Last Stand at the Pentagon? Not Yet
March 22, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
The Defense Department and BlackBerry maintain the military is not, as reports suggest, dismissing the company's new product line. Defense “is aware of recent reporting that asserts it is 'dropping' BlackBerry. This reporting is in error,” department spokesman Lt. Col. Damien Pickart said in a statement. Company officials went as ...
Military Cyber Strike Teams Will Soon Guard Private Networks
March 21, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
Cyber Command aims to deploy by September all 13 cyberwarrior teams capable of striking adversary networks to deflect assaults on U.S. private computers, Pentagon officials said this week. Last week, Gen. Keith Alexander, head of the command, provided lawmakers with a vague timeline for fleshing out three cyber forces, each ...
Contractor Site User Uncovered GSA Data Compromise
March 20, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
A user of an online federal contracting registry found a way of bypassing security controls to see every contractor’s personal and proprietary data, prompting the government to alert registrants about possible fraud, according to the General Services Administration, the owner of the system. IBM, which operates the registry, known as ...
Pentagon Plans to Deploy More Than 100 Cyber Teams by Late 2015
March 19, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
Within three years, the Pentagon’s Cyber Command will deploy more than 100 teams focused predominantly on defending military networks rather than attacking adversaries’ systems, according to Defense Department officials. The department recently reorganized Cyber Command, which since 2010 has directed offensive and defensive operations in cyberspace, into three “mission forces.” ...
DHS Cyber Czar Mark Weatherford to Step Down
March 17, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
Mark Weatherford, a Homeland Security Department top cyber official credited with forging trusted partnerships among insular federal departments and wary companies, will depart for the private sector this spring, DHS officials said. Following a year-and-a-half stint as the first-ever cyber chief, Weatherford will start work on May 1 as principal ...
GSA Database May Have Leaked Contractor Banking and Proprietary Information
March 16, 2013
FROM NEXTGOV
A flaw in a government contracting database might have allowed vendors or federal workers to steal other vendors' financial information and trade secrets. Late Friday, the General Services Administration said in a statement that GSA officials found "a security vulnerability" in a registration system "which could allow some existing users ...
