US government agencies aim for software assurance
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WASHINGTON - U.S. government agencies need to better understand the vulnerabilties of the software they're buying, said IT workers from several government agencies during a software assurance forum in Washington, D.C., this week.
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Company is readying security software or cell phones and handheld devices.
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Patching is the top concern of security managers in federal government, who feel that commercial software makers aren&#39;t putting out a good enough product, according to a survey published Monday.
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InfoWorld - Red Hat Linux has received a new level of security certification that should make the software more appealing to some government agencies.
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Microsoft Corp would share the underlying software code for its Office programme as part of its efforts to make governments more confident in the security and compatibility of the worldâs largest software makerâs products.
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Microsoft Corp. announced this week it is making the programming code for its Office 2003 software suite available to government agencies around the globe, a move partly aimed at allowing them to inspect the product for flaws and security problems.
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Software vendors need automated tools that look for bugs in their code, but it may be a decade before many of those tools are mature and widely used, said the former director of cybersecurity for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
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By Kenyon, Henry S  Software suite allows message traffic across domains, security levels.  The U.S. military is developing a suite of software applications that will allow secure communications between different national computer networks.
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The U.S. government ratifies a multilateral effort dealing with worms, fraud and child exploitation.
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SEATTLE -- Microsoft Corp. is expanding a program to give government organizations access to some of its tightly guarded software blueprints, amid growing competition from rivals who make such source code freely available.
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Symantec says U.S. agencies need to better protect their cyber assets, echoing concerns raised last year by U.S. Government Accountability Office.
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SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. is expanding a program to give government organizations access to some of its tightly guarded software blueprints amid growing competition from rivals who make such source code freely available...
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The Cyber Security Industry Alliance has evaluated the Federal government's 2006 cybersecurity efforts and found them seriously wanting. The group has renewed its call for Congress to address the situation.
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Government agencies need to better protect themselves against cybersecurity problems after congressional hearings and reports exposed weaknesses in 2007.
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(InfoWorld) - U.S. government agencies are interested in unified communications systems that integrate voice, video, and data over IP, but they have concerns about funding and security, according to a survey released Monday. Twenty-eight percent of U.S. telecom decision-makers surveyed in April said funding was their greatest challenge to achieving their communications goals. Another 20 percent said security was the top concern, and 17 percent said educating co-workers about the benefits was the biggest challenge. "We're talking to the boots-on-the-ground program managers, IT directors who are really charged and tasked with getting some of this stuff done," said Aaron Heffron, vice president of Market Connections, which conducted the survey for Cisco Systems. "They said, 'There's a lot of ... concern over security in my agency'." A unified communications system could include such servicesÂ as VoIP, instant messaging, remote access to agency files, and mobile data or voice devices, all managed together. There are heavy demands for unified communications in federal agencies, especially in the military, said Brent Byrnes, federal unified communications manager for Cisco. The U.S. military has "increasing needs to rapidly stand up services" in combat zones, he said. Asked of the benefits of a unified communications approach, 93 percent of respondents said better security would be a result of integrating IT and telecom systems. Ninety-three percent also believed system reliability would improve, and 91 percent said productivity and collaboration would improve. There seems to be a difference of opinion about a unified approach's effect on security between top-level managers in agencies and the IT and telecom managers, Heffron said. "Those individuals know that bringing these two systems together can improve their security and reliability," he said. "However, they're swimming upstream in some cases with other agency management." Another 88 percent said a unified communications system would allow agencies to improve their plans to continue to operate during a disaster, a major focus of the U.S. government since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S. But only 44 percent of respondents said their agencies have the ability to notify employees in real time. Twenty-eight percent said their agencies have no plans to use real-time notification. Four in five respondents said their agencies already use audio conferencing and mobile devices. Three-quarters said their agencies allow remote or mobile access to agency files, and 71 percent have wireless networking access. Only 50 percent said their agencies use instant messaging, and 26 percent said they have no plans to use it. The survey also found that 35 percent of respondents said they had projects delayed or deadlines missed at least sometimes because of communication difficulties. Only 11 percent said they never have experienced delays. But only 38 percent of respondents said they are rolling out or have rolled out a unified communications system. Another 13 percent said they have either conducted pilot tests or identified a vendor, while 23 percent are investigating it, and 21 percent have done nothing more than talked about unified communications. Finally, 84 percent of respondents said communications devices have been a "blessing" in daily life. Eleven percent said such devices are a "curse." The survey solicited comments from 201 U.S. government telecom decision-makers.
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Computer-security experts, including former government officials, urged the George W. Bush administration on Tuesday to devote more effort to strengthening defenses against viruses, hackers and other online threats.
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Attorney General Gonzales assures tech execs of the government's commitment.