Amid the death and destruction of the terrorist attacks Sept. 11 in New York and Washington, the United States received a brutal wake-up call about the vulnerability of the nation's critical infrastructures ? both physical and electronic.
Key operations in the Department of Education's central automated processing system are at risk of disruption and unauthorized access, according to a report by the General Accounting Office.
When NASA needed a foolproof way of controlling who entered its new Triana Science and Operations Center at the University of California in San Diego, it went for fingerprint-based access.
The federal government needs to take far more extensive steps to protect its technology infrastructure, particularly to safeguard civil agencies as they try to pursue e-government initiatives, according to a report by the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association.
The federal government reached a milestone in June with the launch of a program that may ultimately create a governmentwide public-key infrastructure to protect e-government initiatives.
1. Pride: People make the mistake of thinking, "I can handle it myself." Some 97 percent of the time, that's not the case. Most have been hacked and don't know it.
Companies that provide information security services are beginning to reap the benefits of a little-noticed cybersecurity law that took effect in November 2000 and is now exerting its influence over federal agencies throughout the government.
Successful hacker attacks against Web sites of the State Department, NASA, the Naval Weapons Research Center and even the White House ? all within recent months ? underscore that security remains the Achilles' heel of Web technology.
Despite legislation passed last year directing federal agencies to beef up security plans for their computer systems, they are falling short as cyberattacks continue to rise, representatives from the General Accounting Office and other organizations told Congress.
Electronic Data Systems Corp. launched its Cyber Security Institute April 4 to provide information technology professionals and consumers with computer security skills to fight hackers, security breaches and viruses.
Putting federal agencies on alert about computer security, an influential lawmaker today sent letters to 15 agency heads reminding the officials of their duties to protect the electronic infrastructure under their control.
Government and industry representatives today released a report calling on federal agencies to beef up information security as they move government information and services to the Web.
The departments of Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Affairs have auctioned 110,000 foreclosed homes in the last year using Internet and telecommunications technologies, according to Tower Communications, the company that built the system.
The Army Materiel Command awarded Corbett Technologies Inc. a five-year, $40.6 million blanket purchase agreement to provide information security services for the AMC chief information officer, acquisition and technology division, information assurance program.
