Attacks on Industrial Control Systems Spike, Air Force Smartphone Games for New Recruits, and More

Here is today’s federal cybersecurity and information technology news: The Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team within the Department of Homeland Security reports a a 20-fold leap in the number of incidents since the team was created in 2009. More here. The Homeland Security Infrastructure Program gave Colorado authorities fighting deadly wildfires access toRead… Read more »

Open or Complete?

A man is incomplete until he is married. After that, he is finished. – Zsa Zsa Gabor For the last five years I have been trying to understand the tension between enterprise or proprietary development and open source development. A prominent example has been the competition between the iPhone and the Android operating system. WhenRead… Read more »

A Common Approach to Federal Enterprise Architecture – Actionable Solutions

The recent “Common Approach to Federal Enterprise Architecture” (US Executive Office of the President, May 2 2012) is extremely timely and well-organized guidance for the Federal IT investment and deployment community, as useful for Federal Departments and Agencies as it is for their stakeholders and integration partners. The guidance not only helps IT Program PlannersRead… Read more »

Healthcare Reform Upheld: Are You Prepared for the Effects?

My Colleague Dan West has some interesting thoughts on healthcare reform now that the initial dust has cleared… Regardless of your view on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, yesterday’s Supreme Court decision is a signal to healthcare organizations to continue preparations for change. And if your organization hasn’t started, now’s the time. AnRead… Read more »

GovBytes: Social Media a Major Campaign Tool for Political Candidates

Social media has become a major influencer in the way candidates campaign. Newark’s Cory Booker has over one million followers, and is one of the best examples of a politician successfully utilizing social media. On New Years Eve in 2010, Mayor Booker even responded to a grandson tweeting about his grandfather who needed his drivewayRead… Read more »

What You Can Learn from HHS Facebook Pages (Part 3 of 3)

By Eric Diaz. Blog series originally posted at DK Web Consulting. Click here for Part 1 in the series on HHS Facebook page use. Click here for Part 2. It’s not just the private sector jumping on the social media bandwagon. Government agencies are using the robust Facebook platform to reach the public too. ThisRead… Read more »

To Hash or Not to Hash? A Decision Making Guide

Using a decision-making flowchart, this post helps people determine whether they should include one or more hashtags in their tweets. This guidance is offered as an extension of the recent post, 6 Tips to Avoid Making a Hash of Twitter Hashtags. The post also provides links to additional resources that enable both rookie and moreRead… Read more »

A Social Storm

Friday, brought a “hurricane without warning” to the DC metropolitan area. As has been the case with so many recent disruptions to daily life, social tools had another opportunity to demonstrate their ability to change the way we manage disruption. To be certain, this storm was a particular challenge; as cell network and landline phoneRead… Read more »

Addressing Cyber Instability

The Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative and the Cyber Conflict Studies Association (CCSA) is holding another excellent event on Tuesday, July 10 for the CCSA’s new capstone report, Addressing Cyber Instability. The report discusses how cyberspace is an inherently unstable national security domain which, due to its characteristics such as low barriers to entry, altersRead… Read more »