• "Thought helmets" for silent, secure communication among soldiers

    U.S. Army funds research into helmets with embedded sensors which “read” a soldier’s thoughts (well, brain waves) and transmit them, telepathy-like, to their intended target

  • Keep IT security simple

    New study of corporate security breaches says that 87 percent of all security breaches could have been avoided “if reasonable security controls had been in place at the time of the incident”

  • India eases foreign borrowing rules to aid infrastructure

    The U.S. infrastructure is often described as “aging” or “crumbling”; in india they refer to the country’s “ramshackle infrastructure”; the Indian government, as part of a move to have $500 billion invested in improving the country’s infrastructure, eases borrowing rule, allowing Indian companies involved in infrastructure improvement to borrow more money abroad

  • Briefly noted

    Debating whether DHS should have cybersecurity responsibilities… FDA revisits refused foods issue… DoD tests contractors’ ID cards

  • USPS to deploy IPv6-capable video surveillance

    The U.S. Postal Services wants to increase security inside the more than 40,000 post offices around the country; it will install IPv6-capable CCTV systems — complying with the federal government encouragment of agnecies to migrate to IPv6

  • GE, Google to collaborate on smart grid

    The two companies, saying that existing U.S. infrastructure has not kept pace with the digital economy and the hundreds of technology opportunities that are ready for market, will focus on improving power generation, transmission, and distribution of energy;

  • GAO: U.S. computer emergency readiness team is not ready

    Government Accounting Office criticizes US-CERT for lacking “a comprehensive baseline understanding of the nation’s critical information infrastructure operations” and for not exhibiting “aspects of the attributes essential to having a truly national capability,” among other things

  • IBM shows hardware-based encryption tool

    System x Vault protects data when a server’s hard drive is disposed or stolen, without affecting server performance

  • Forrester boosts 2008 tech spending forecast

    For the technology sector, it may be a case of good news now and so-so news later; one wild card for the tech sector is the poor health of the nation’s banks and other financial-services companies, which account for about 18 percent of the U.S. technology market

  • CTO defends researcher's decision to reveal SCADA exploit

    Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) software controls critical U.S. infrastructure; in June, a researcher released attack code which takes advantage of a stack-based buffer overflow bug in SCADA software; security patches have been provided, but the community debates whether the researcher acted responsibly

  • DHS: Progress and priorities, II

    Since its creation more than five years ago, DHS has made significant progress — uneven progress — in protecting the United States from dangerous people and goods, protecting the U.S. critical infrastructure, strengthen emergency response, and unifying department operations

  • Botnets, not the Russian government, behind Georgian attacks

    Scrutiny of botnet activity indicates Russia’s attacks on Georgia were not state-sponsored

  • Analyst group: Some companies cutting IT spending

    Many large companies, especially those in the financial services, utilities, and telecommunications industries, have cut their technology budgets this year because of the economic slowdown

  • U.S. military pushes for offensive cyber warfare capabilities

    U.S. officials have been reluctant to militarize the electronic medium, but a recently declassified report and electronic attacks on Georgia have set off an intense discussion among senior Pentagon officials about going on the offensive

  • New Orleans coped well with Gustav

    The planning and execution of hurricane emergency measure was far superior to what happened during Katrina, even if the challenge was not as demanding; analysts worry that with Gustav failing to live up to expectations of devastation, we may witness “evacuation fatigue” next time