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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.
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Pentagon Plans to Deploy More Than 100 Cyber Teams by Late 2015

March 19, 2013 FROM NEXTGOV arrow 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 arrow 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 arrow 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 ...

Officials Worry About Vulnerability of Global Nuclear Stockpile to Cyber Attack

March 13, 2013 FROM NEXTGOV arrow Senators requested a national intelligence assessment of foreign nations’ abilities to protect their nuclear weapons from digital strikes after the Pentagon's chief cyber officer said he does not know whether China, Russia or other nuclear powers, aside from the United States, have effective safeguards in place. What’s more, the resiliency ...

Federal Cybersecurity Misses Targets in Annual Report

March 12, 2013 FROM NEXTGOV arrow More government programs violated data security law standards in 2012 than in the previous year, the White House has informed Congress. At the same time, computer security costs have increased by more than $1 billion, according to the executive branch’s yearly report on compliance with the 2002 Federal Information Security ...

NIST Works to Drum Up Cyber Standards Support

March 11, 2013 FROM NEXTGOV arrow The National Institute of Standards and Technology has started visiting businesses to rally support for a nationwide cybersecurity program called for by a February executive order. The Feb. 12 mandate directed NIST, a Commerce Department agency, to develop standard guidelines for protecting computer operations in key sectors. On Monday, at ...

Is Carhacking a Serious Threat? Some Analysts Think So.

March 8, 2013 FROM NEXTGOV arrow A U.S. senator drives from Capitol Hill to her home in Virginia, listening to the CD a constituent gave her. Going with the speed of traffic at 60 miles per hour, her brakes suddenly engage. Then an SUV rams the politician’s sedan from behind, killing her on impact. It turns ...

DHS Worries More About a ‘Fundamental Attack’ in Cyberspace than Theft, Napolitano says

March 8, 2013 FROM NEXTGOV arrow The Homeland Security Department is more devoted to preempting a future cyberattack that could upend the economy or kill civilians than countering ongoing cyber fraud, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said of her agency's multifaceted network protection agenda. “From a standpoint of where we focus most of our efforts -- we ...

DARPA to Turn off Funding for Hackers Pursuing Cybersecurity Research

March 7, 2013 FROM NEXTGOV arrow The Pentagon is scuttling a program that awards grants to reformed hackers and security professionals for short-term research with game-changing potential, according to cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab. The Cyber Fast Track program, first reported by Nextgov, is managed by Peiter Zatko, a gray-hat hacker himself who goes by the nickname ...

GSA Will Stop Recruiting Cloud Security Testers Until the Fall

March 6, 2013 FROM NEXTGOV arrow The government's new program for certifying the safety of browser-based software will not be able to recruit additional testers until the fall, federal officials told Nextgov. Currently, there are 16 government-approved independent testing firms assessing the security of dozens of cloud provider data centers to make sure they are up ...