• Hathaway describes administration's cybersecurity response plan

    The U.S, infrastructure is being challenged and attacked not by amateurs, but by professional criminals and spies backed with substantial resources; yet, there are no coordinated plans for protecting the critical infrastructure or responding to incidents, either by government or the private sector; the Obama administration plans to change that

  • Real ID 2.0 introduced in Congress

    Many states saw the provisions of the The Real ID Act of 2005 as onerous — and the price tag of $12 billion as prohibitive; legislators revamp the original act to accommodate the preferences of states

  • Chatham creates School of Sustainability and the Environment

    Two trends — globalization and the centralization of food production — have pushed food safety issues to the fore; Chatham University launches a new degree program designed to provide students with “a deep understanding of the issues surrounding food such as the environmental costs of food production and distribution, cultural issues, sustainability of communities, and safety of the food supply”

  • Chemical industry urges Congress not to alter chemical facility security law

    The Chemical Facility Security Act of 2006 introduced federal seafety standards to govern chemical plants, but also contained major concessions to the industry; the industry wants Congress to reauthorize the act without alterations

  • Simpler, cheaper planes steal the show in Paris

    Simpler, slower, and cheaper planes, loaded with weapons, attract attention at the Paris Air Show; these planes are more suitable for the budget-conscious Pentagon — and for fighting insurgents; Stephen Biddle: “Somebody roaring by at 500 miles per hour has a harder time of distinguishing between civilians and insurgents”

  • Defense contractors look to cybersecurity for growth

    The Obama administration’s emphasis on cybersecurity in its FY2010 defense budget — and the federal budget more generally — offers opportunities for large defense contractors; smaller companies providing gear for Afghanistan/Pakistan war also see growth opportunities

  • China uses stolen software in its new Internet censorship scheme

    The Chinese government will impose strict Internet censorship beginning 1 July; the software the Chinese will use for filtering Web sites was stolen from California-based Solid Oak Software; the Chinese piracy was exceedingly clumsy: a file containing a 2004 Solid Oak news bulletin has been accidentally included in the Chinese filtering coding

  • Hamas, Hezbollah employ Russian hackers for cyber attacks on Israel

    During Israel’s January campaign in the Gaza Strip, Israeli government’s Web site were attacked, and some were paralyzed for hours; Israeli intelligence suspects the attacks were carried out by a criminal organization from the former Soviet Union and paid for by Hamas or Hezbollah

  • U.K. to centralize cybersecurity functions

    Following President Obama’s cybersecurty initiative, the U.K. government will move to centralize cyber security functions in Whitehall as part of an on-going major review of U.K. cybersecurity

  • Mobile workforce poses cybersecurity risk

    The growing mobility of the workforce creates new cyber security threats; Symantec’s Vic Mankotia: “Data in motion is the next big threat to government information security”

  • NSF receives $3 billion in stimulus package funds

    NSF director: “The Obama administration understands the role of science in dealing with national problems. It’s built into their priorities and the people they have appointed to get the agenda moving”

  • E-Verify implementation delayed yet again

    DHS created E-Verify to allow employers to check on line the eligibility of employees to work in the United States; implementation of the system has been delayed for the fourth time; new deadline: 8 September 2009

  • SF airport receives first installment of stimulus package money

    The stimulus package added $3 billion to the DHS budget; of that, about $1 billion will go toward bolstering airport security; San Francisco International receives first $15 million

  • Mystery surrounds detection of North Korea's nuclear test

    Detecting radionuclide evidence in the form of radioactive gas is the “smoking gun” — proving that a nuclear explosion has occurred; seismologists say they are comfortable that explosion in North Korea two weeks ago was a nuclear test — but sensors have not been able to pick up radionuclide evidence

  • Worries in the U.K. over Chinese-made phone equipment

    BT is engaged in a massive upgrade of its 21CN network backbone; trouble is, at the core of this upgrade is equipment acquired from Chinese networking giant Huawei, a company Western intelligence services have long suspected of being a front for Chinese intelligence; fear of an undetectable “kill switch” that could disable critical communications