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A newly released White House strategy for federal information sharing lists among its top priorities adoption of metadata standards and the further extension of the Federal Identity Credential and Access Management framework.The strategy (.pdf) does not replace the 2007 National Strategy for Information Sharing, the new document says; the NSIS continues to provide the framework for information sharing and to direct its efforts in the areas of counterterrorism, homeland security and weapons of mass destruction.The new document does define policy objectives, however, including the promotion of finer-grained access controls through promotion of data-level tagging, also known as metadata. Today, most information authorization models are defined at the network or application level, but network consolidation and shared service adoption means that access controls should be applied to the data itself, the strategy says.Tagging would benefit data discovery and access, but it can also enable enforcement of access decisions based on the relevancy of the data to the mission of the person who seeks it by comparing user attributes (such as workplace or security clearance) to the data.The strategy is firmly in the camp of federated access to multiple databases, stating that centralized repositories may only "yet remain appropriate in some limited cases." A decentralized approach lets the originator of the data directly maintain and update it, the strategy says, promising "increased speed in sharing and high levels of information fidelity." Among the lesser priorities identified by the strategy is a reference architecture that would permit a consistent approach across government to data discovery and correlation.
According to a study by the London School of Economics and Political Science, the development of cloud computing will result in economic growth, increased productivity, and promote change in the types of jobs and skills required by businesses.The study focuses on two industries – smartphone and aerospace service – and dives into the impact of cloud computing on said industries using the UK, Germany, Italy, and USA and the years 2010 and 2014 as subjects. Microsoft helped underwrite the study.The study claims that investments in cloud computing are contributing to job creation and growth in both the old and slow-growing aerospace sector and the relatively new, yet fast growing smartphone industry. Added to this, the cloud computing industry is also responsible for job creation via construction, staffing, and supply of the data centers that will host the cloud. Cloud computing also has the benefit of optimizing businesses as it frees up managerial staff and skilled employees, allowing them to focus on the areas of work that are more profitable.The shift to cloud and virtualization will also open up a wide range of new employment opportunities, as the new set of skills they demand will be in demand among employers. They could also lead to higher than average salaries due to said demand and the rarity of people who have tenure in said fields.
Join FierceGovernmentIT for a webinar while we discuss the extent to which data security concerns act as a cloud computing adoption obstacle, the extent to which the can be mitigated and the resulting impacts those mitigations may have on use cases and deployment. Register Today.The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced on Dec. 11 the arrests of 10 individuals from Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, New Zealand, Peru, the United Kingdom, and the United States in connection with international cyber crime rings linked to the Butterfly Botnet, responsible for more than 11 million compromised computer systems and over $850 million in losses. Working with law enforcement agencies around the globe, the FBI-led operation targeted multiple variants of the Yahos malware tied to the Butterfly Botnet, which steals computer users' credit card, bank account, and other personal identifiable information. Called Metulji, Slovenian for butterfly, press reports last year traced the botnet to the city of Banja Luka in Bosnia Herzegovina. The Butterfly Botnet is polymorphic malware that spreads via removable drives, making it very difficult to contain and remove from a network, and is believed to be one of the largest documented botnets. In particular, the Yahos malware victimized users of Facebook from 2010 to October 2012.
The scares of Halloween 2012 are well past now, but there’s still time for agency IT teams to hear one more tale of technological terror. For government IT workers, there are few words more spine-tingling than an agency CIO demanding the implementation of a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution. Agency IT professionals are hard to frighten, faced as they are with the looming “fiscal cliff” and years of budget cuts, but the dangers inherent in SaaS are enough to turn even the most hardened systems administrator’s hair white.What’s so scary about the big bad SaaS monster? And is it something that IT teams should bar the proverbial door against, or do they need to face their fears and deal with SaaS warts and all?Before delving into the SaaS Pit of Fear, first consider why agency CIOs are so interested in the technology, at least from a consideration (if not implementation) standpoint. The primary purported benefit of SaaS is cost savings, as expensive and time-consuming custom application development is not needed to deliver the same functionality. There is also the perception that SaaS is “cloud,” and everyone knows how important buzzwords can be higher up the chain of command.For IT professionals, however, these benefits are fleeting at best, leaving agency IT teams with a mess of epic proportions to handle on their own. From loss of control and poor integration with existing systems to the potential impact on government IT jobs, the downsides to IT of SaaS are far more detrimental than any short-term cost-savings or “cloud readiness” could be.
On the face of it, government is a wasteful spender. It offers its employees little incentive to be thrifty or strategic about how it spends tax payer funds. But alongside this apathy, a small team in the middle of the country is quietly revolutionizing the ‘bureaucracy as usual’ mindset. Most people don’t look to Jefferson City, Missouri as a source of technical innovation, and they especially would never think to look at its government. But they’d be surprised to learn that the Missouri Department of Transportation (MODOT) is one of the most innovative organizations using social and mobile technologies in the country. In fact, they are a model for how government can and should cut spending by leveraging new technologies. “We shut down two major interstates for an entire year. Because rather than take eight years to rebuild them while keeping two lanes open and have workers in danger – we decided to give our residents mobile maps and apps to maneuver them around the freeway,” Mike Miller, MODOT’s Assistant Information Systems Director told me. That decision alone saved MODOT over $100 million in taxpayer funds. But it almost didn’t come to be. Critics of the decision to completely shut down 12 miles of interstate called the move a one year catastrophe and irresponsible and it nearly wasn’t implemented. Sure enough however, they moved forward and pulled it off under budget and with few complaints from the public.
Cathilea Robinett (Executive Vice President, Government Technology & Center for Digital Government) and Harry Herington (CEO, NIC) discuss how eGovernment is not only helping government be more efficient, but is truly changing lives — helping students find financial aid, keeping our kids safe, and protecting public safety officers.
Over the past 12 years, the influence of the Internet has grown to the extent that Americans now “live in networks,” according to an expert on how digital trends are affecting American society -- and that development has serious implications for the way federal agencies interact with the citizens they serve.
The growth of broadband networks and mobile devices since 2000 “has brought new actors into civic spaces,” said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project. “These folks are sometimes on the warpath, and government agencies need to be responsive to that.”
Rainie spoke Monday at Nextgov Prime, a Government Executive Media Group event on technology and government’s future.
Fully 85 percent of Americans are now Internet users, according to Pew’s research, and 66 percent of them have broadband connections at home. Even more significantly, large numbers of those online have become content creators. Almost 70 percent use social networking sites. Even among those 65 and older, 50 percent are online and 38 percent use social networks.
Likewise, the country has undergone a mobile revolution. Nearly 90 percent of adults have mobile phones, and 46 percent are smartphone users. Half of adults have used mobile apps, and 43 percent have downloaded them. As a result, they are more connected digitally than ever before -- to both their work and personal lives.
Editor's note:
This is an SFGate.com Neighborhood Blog. These blogs are not written or edited by SFGate or the San Francisco Chronicle. The authors are solely responsible for the content.
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Alameda Point Entrepreneurs: John Walker’s Area 51 » The plans are required in order for the school district to be eligible for state and federal technology grants and for a discount on telecommunications costs district officials estimated at between $350,000 and $400,000 a year. But unlike prior plans that were essentially unfunded, the goals outlined in the new, three-year plan will be backed at least in part by Measure A parcel tax money.A draft plan presented to the school board on Tuesday night outlines how the district hopes to integrate technology into students’ lessons and use it to boost outcomes for special education students, English learners and other groups who consistently struggle with standardized tests. The plan also addresses how the district will meet fresh state and federal mandates around student etiquette and safety on the Internet and expectations that testing now conducted using pencil and paper will someday be done online.“This is not about tools or gimmicks or hardware or software. This is about how we change instruction,” Assistant Superintendent Sean McPhetridge told the board on Tuesday.
President Barack Obama talks with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg during an event at Facebook headquarters in April 2011.(CNN) -- Technology policy didn't get much air time in the 2012 presidential election, but the Obama administration will face serious issues over the next four years.The country is facing a shortage of qualified technology workers. Potential cybersecurity attacks threaten the nation's power and transportation infrastructures.Privacy advocates fear the seemingly unchecked digital tracking of consumers by private companies and law enforcement agencies. And the online piracy of music, movies and other content remains a thorny issue.Here's a look at five of the biggest tech issues facing President Barack Obama, and the country, in his second term:Few topics riled the Internet in 2012 as much as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), an anti-piracy bill that raised concerns about free speech and privacy online. The Obama administration opposed that doomed bill but is expected to address the piracy issue again in the next four years.Hollywood was a major contributor to Obama's re-election campaign, and the head of the Motion Picture Association of America, former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, is optimistic that Obama will support some sort of anti-piracy effort in his second term.
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