Cloud computing comes with tons of potential; however, when you open up your network to the outside, you need to ensure that everything you transmit is done so securely.  Peter Mell of NIST, Christofer Hoff of Cisco, and Nick Hoover of InformationWeek all took part in this discussion, which is an extremely important facet of the cloud proposition.  As we move more and more necessary applications and services to the cloud, it is paramount that they run … [Read more...]

Telework is one of the latest crazes to hit the government.  Telework sites are being okayed for some 3-letter agencies.  Currently, VPNs are accessible, and capable ways of enabling telework, but even if the technology is available, what are the cultural changes necessary?  Allan Holmes of Government Executive, Max Chafkin of Inc. Magazine, Danette Campbell of the US PTO and Justin Johnson of the US OPM all got together to discuss this topic. Justin … [Read more...]

Christopher Dorobek of Federal News Radio moderated a panel that focused on how to use collaborative technology to improve procurement.  There have infinite conferences regarding procurement, so talking about it isn't new, but the BetterBuy Project, a platform that enables the public to submit, comment, and vote on ideas is a new day in federal procurement.  The GSA is a strong part of this initiative, having put forth ideas on two different … [Read more...]

Jeffery Carr of GreyLogic presented on utilizing Web 2.0 capabilities to target and attack networks.  Jeffrey first displayed a Russian spearphishing attack that took place targeting US Government employees.  The attackers spoofed his email address, sending a huge wave of emails to USG employees.  Targeted users were asked to go to a site to download a new patch for Windows.  When scanned with the latest Anti-Viruses, this mal-ware was only stopped … [Read more...]

One of the trends in technology seems to be this "my IT infrastructure + Cloud = :-)"  However, it is not that simple.  Michael Krieger, the Army's Deputy CIO got together with Carolyn Lawson of the state of California's Office of the CIO, John Foley of InformationWeek and Darrell West of the Brookings Institute (a NPO public policy organization) to talk about value adds they have found in cloud computing. Carolyn is enjoying cloud computing because … [Read more...]

What can we learn from our "neighbours" across the sea? On June 10, 2009, the UK government announced the "Making Public Data Public" initiative.  UK's Gov2.0 initiative is there to bring the government to the people.  This presentation provided perspective from the founder of the World Wide Web, members of UK's government, private UK consultants, and a member of the UK news media. Tim Berners-Lee (also known as the creator of the World Wide Web) … [Read more...]

Alistair Croll of Bitcurrent, an analysis and research firm, set out to explain all about the cloud.  A big cloud advocate myself, I was interested in hearing his thoughts, and hopefully gaining some  tips and tricks along the way. Alistair first highlighted Nicholas Carr's "The Big Switch" which provides a analogy of computers to the electronic revolution.  I am definitely going to check out this book and I'll let you know my thoughts. Disruption … [Read more...]