Last week, General Alexander (director of NSA and commander, USCYBERCOM) spoke at the RSA conference in San Francisco. He pointed out the the explosion of technology over the past 10 years. That users went from an average of 250MB of personal files, to over 128GB. The fact that 70% of Americans online are on Facebook - that 600M users worldwide are as well. This, mixed with the huge advances in programming (Watson and Deep Blue) lets us know that we do … [Read more...]
GovCloud Cloud Computing Discussion and Book Launch
February 27, 2011 By
If you have been working modern IT concepts in the federal space you probably already know of Kevin Jackson, the mission-focused writer of the Cloud Musings blog and Director of Cloud Services at NJVC . Kevin recently completed a new book, GovCloud: Cloud Computing for the Business of Government. I try to track cloud-related issues myself, but like many others I have trouble keeping up with the many moving parts of this construct. The book provides a … [Read more...]
The Navy Virtualizes
February 25, 2011 By
If you thought data management was difficult in business, imagine the nightmare it becomes in the Navy. The Navy faces monumental and unique challenges with its shipboard networks as, just like everywhere else, data flows continue to increase. The systems aboard US ships tend to be outdated since they can only be upgraded while the ship is in port, and incompatible with each other because they tend to run unique software on custom-made hardware, … [Read more...]
GovSec conference is March 29-31 2011
February 24, 2011 By
The folks organizing the GovSec 2011 Conference and Expo have just given me a code that will give you a 10% discount when you register for their event, and they would like me to share that with you. That's nice of them isn't it? I try to go to this conference every year. When I'm lucky they ask me to speak, but the decided instead this year to have interesting speakers. Oh well. Maybe next year. But I do plan on going and taking note to share with you … [Read more...]
Invincea Named Most Innovative Company of RSA 2011
February 23, 2011 By
If you are an enterprise IT professional there is something you should know: Invincea has been named the "Most Innovative" company at the 2011 RSA conference. There are reasons for this. The capabilities provided by Invincea hold great promise in the fight against malware. The endorsement of a panel of security experts at the world's greatest security conference should be enough to get your attention, so now do your own due diligence and accelerate … [Read more...]
If you research asymmetric war, use the NCTC WITS system
February 22, 2011 By
The work of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) is important and, because of the need to protect our nation's information sources and advantages over international terrorists, criminals and other malicious actors, is not discussed much in the open. But there are things you can learn about NCTC by review of reputable sources. The most important source is testimony of its leadership to Congress. For example, see the statement of The Honorable … [Read more...]
Continued Evolution of DoD Cyber Policy
February 16, 2011 By
The deputy secretary of Defense, the Honorable William J. Lynn III, delivered remarks at the RSA conference that captures a snapshot of DoD cyber policies. This is consistent with the continually improving path the department has been on for the last several years. I recommend a good read of the remarks and hope you share my excitement over the great work here. I would only add that I continue to hear from practitioners of cyber security in the field … [Read more...]
Federal Cloud Computing Strategy
February 11, 2011 By
Since the CIO.gov site is down for maintenance I wanted to help spread the word on this new document, the Federal Cloud Computing Strategy. I hate to say this, but I have not read it myself yet! But I have read everything else Federal CIO Vivek Kundra has had a hand in publishing and I know this will be important for us all to read and digest and thought you might want an early look. Please stay in touch, I'll publish comments later (and please, after … [Read more...]