• Getting the coming investment in infrastructure right

    America 2050 issues blueprint for infrastructure investment; guiding principles: Fix, Phase, Green, Train, Count

  • Integrated Wireless Network abandoned

    The Integrated Wireless Network was launched in 2004 to serve more than 80,000 federal agents; GAO says that the three departments working on the project — DHS, Justice, and Treasury — had different goals and failed to collaborate effectively; the three will now pursue separate departmental upgrades

  • Five myths about two-factor authentication

    Too many organizations allow themselves to be vulnerable to cybercrime because of prevailing myths about the cost, inconvenience, and efficacy of two-factor authentication; close examination reveals these myths to be just that — myths

  • The next version of FISMA

    The first version of the Federal Information Security Act (FISMA) of 2002 placed much emphasis on auditing and reporting; it is time to move on beyond checking compliance boxes and concentrate on making sure that the security of government departments is not compromised

  • Researchers inadvertently release IE7 attack code

    Chinese researchers fail to note that the last security patch released by Microsoft did not take care of a problem they had earlier identified; thinking the problem has been fixed, the researchers release code that might be misused to exploit an unpatched IE 7 vulnerability

  • Hackers target rich content files

    New security report says that PDF and Flash files will be used by cybercriminals much more in 2009

  • U.K. launches dedicated network for emergency communication

    The U.K. government has contracted with BT to develop the National Resilience Extranet — which will enable the secure exchange of information in response to civil emergencies such as floods and outbreaks of agricultural diseases

  • Defining on line attacks and cyberwar

    The growing number of cyberattacks — for political reasons (Estonia, Georgia) and for profit — prompts calls to define the threat more clearly

  • Economic downturn may force software engineers into crime

    Eugene Kaspersky says economic crisis would create a situation in which unemployed software engineers could become the latest threat to corporate IT security

  • Twenty-one million German bank accounts for sale

    Criminals steal 21 million German bank records; reporters posing as buyers working for a gambling business managed to strike a a price of €0.55 per record, or €12 million for all the data

  • Day of smart grid nears

    Major blackouts may be a thing of the past: the world’s first high-voltage Li-ion system can connect to the grid, without a transformer, and immediately turn on if there is a disruption in power

  • Briefly noted

    The principles which should guide Obama’s $700 billion infrastructure plan… Cisco becomes infrastructure player on Obama tech focus… EU piracy mission chief calls for more surveillance equipment

  • U.K. government grants itself even more data sharing power

    A U.K. government proposal debated in Parliament this week would increase the ability of different government arms to share data

  • Here they go again: China demands access to Western computer security

    Another crisis in U.S.-China trade relations looms, as China, again, is about to introduce rules which would allow Chinese companies to steal Western industrial secrets, and would allow the Chinese government more tightly to monitor what the Chinese people say and read

  • Making older buildings safer during earthquakes

    Buildings being built now in earthquake-prone regions are designed better to withstand tremors; trouble is, for a long while yet, most of the buildings in which people live and work were built before new earthquake-related design concepts and new materials were available; UC San Diego researchers look for ways to make these buildings safer