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Amsterdam's Schiphol starts body-scanning at airport: Ultramodern Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam today began using new body-scanning technology at security checkpoints on, the first major airport to use the technology, Reuters reports.Going through the scanner takes about three seconds, allowing users to avoid metal detectors or body searches. For privacy, the digital images are viewed by security...; Tags: Government technology; Blog posts 2007-05-15
Air marshall info among 100,000 records on lost TSA hard drive: The Transportation Security Administration has lost a hard drive with personal information from 100,000 current and former employees. TSA isnt sure whether its just lost or if it was stolen but in either case they "deeply regret this incident," Ars Technica reports. And so, as in so many...; Tags: Security, Homeland security, Government technology; Blog posts 2007-05-08
Census Bureau posted personal info of 63,000 people: This may come as surprise to no one but the Census Bureau inadvertently posted on a public Web site the Social Security numbers of 63,000 people who received financial aid, census officials reports the Washington Post. Although the Social Security numbers were removed from the site, there are still...; Tags: Security, Privacy, Government technology; Blog posts 2007-04-23
Malicious email opened doors to State computers for hackers: Testifying at a House hearing today, a security coordinator for the State Departments Bureau of Diplomatic Security, revealed that hackers obtained entry to State Dept. systems after an employee opened a mysterious email, AP reports. In the first public account revealing details about the intrusion and the governments hurried...; Tags: Government technology, Congress, Security; Blog posts 2007-04-19
House looks into 'bad' Chinese attacks on State, Commerce systems: A House subcommittee is holding a hearing tomorrow to try to understand "how deeply" US government computers have been penetrated by foreign forces and whether the governments IT response so far is adequate, ComputerWorld reports. "The purpose of this hearing is to afford [House members] the opportunity...; Tags: Security, International, Government technology, Congress; Blog posts 2007-04-18

Feds get C- security grade but Defense fails, DHS gets a D: The conventional wisdom is that the federal government deserves failing grades for computer security. After all, the big VA breach of a year ago has been followed by many more stories of agencies losing computers, suffering data breaches and failing to encrypt sensitive data. Today a House committee handed out...; Tags: Congress, Security, IT Management, Government technology; Blog posts 2007-04-12
What's wrong with RealID?: Phil Libin, president of CoreStreet, an ID management firm, writes a perspective piece at CNET in which he questions the strong backlash against RealID. Security is a mess under the current systems. Methods of collecting, verifying and storing background data differ from state to state, as do the...; Tags: State &, Local Govt, RFID, Government technology; Blog posts 2007-04-05
IRS continues to lose machines - and they're not alone: Anne Broache blogs on News.coms Security Blog that the IRS continues to have troubles holding onto computers. Between 2003-2006, 490 IRS computers were lost or stolen. Quite an improvement over the 2,300 missing computers five years ago. But IRS computers on eBay doesnt exactly make the heart jump. "If...; Tags: Security, IRS, Government technology; Blog posts 2007-04-05
VA underestimated info on missing hard drive - tenfold: The hard drive stolen from the Birmingham VA Medical Center may have contained personal information on 535,000 people - 10 times the number VA originally estimated, The Birmingham News relates. The hard drive also may have included data, not all of it sensitive, on about 1.3 million non-VA physicians,...; Tags: Security, Government technology; Blog posts 2007-02-13
FBI lost hundreds of laptops, weapons since 2002: Over a period of four years - from 2002 to 2005 - the FBI lost 160 laptop computers, including 10 that contain highly sensitive classified information, according to an inspector generals report. The Washington Post reports that another 51 of the computers might contain classified data, according to...; Tags: FBI, Government technology, Justice, laptop computer, Security; Blog posts 2007-02-12
DHS' Garcia: Network security is everyone's business: On Between the Lines, Dan Farber reports back from the RSA 2007 Conference, where Greg Garcia, the Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary for cybersecurity and telecommunications, described the security problems inherent in a totally IP-connected world. "The next ten years there will be a single integrated IP network...; Tags: Government technology, Homeland security, Network security, Greg Garcia; Blog posts 2007-02-08
VA loses another hard drive: It looks like security hasnt improved much at the VA. A hard drive missing from the Veterans Affairs Department offices in Alabama may have been stolen, Government Computer News reports. The hard drive may contain personal information about veterans but the department didnt have any information about what data...; Tags: Government technology, Security, hard drive; Blog posts 2007-02-06
In WI, Assembly data stolen from aide's car: In Wisconsin, papers were stolen from a legislative staff members car. Ordinarily no big deal but these had the Social Security numbers for a third of Assembly members and 74 of their aides, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Among those affected were Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch (R-West Salem) and...; Tags: Government technology, State &, Local Govt, Security, Mike Huebsch; Blog posts 2007-02-05
Cybersecurity group gives feds failing grades: Despite all the security debacles of last year, the federal government is still woefully behind the 8-ball when it comes to protecting sensitive information. In an annual report PDF released yesterday the Cyber Security Industry Alliance says Congress and the Bush Administration should take aggressive actions to improve information security...; Tags: Government technology, Security, U.S. Congress; Blog posts 2007-02-01
Local govts. target Wi-Fi piggybacking: In New York and California, local governments are passing laws aimed at stopping people from piggbacking on open Wi-Fi networks, Network World reports. Last October, the local government in Westchester County, N.Y., began enforcing a countywide law requiring all commercial businesses to secure their WLAN access or face fines....; Tags: Government technology, State &, Local Govt, Network security, Mobile/wireless, WLAN, security; Blog posts 2007-01-09
Port worker ID card program starts - without card readers: The Department of Homeland Security announced a new program, to start in March, that will require 750,000 U.S. port and maritime workers to carry biometric identification cards. There will be no card readers for at least a year, though, The Sacramento Bee reports. The Transportation Security...; Tags: Transportation Security Administration, United States Coast Guard, Security, Homeland security, Government technology; Blog posts 2007-01-04
Govt contest to pick full disk encryption solution: The federal government is conducting a side-by-side competition for the best full disk encryption product, the winner to be selected as the standard solution for encryption on all US government computers. Reports the Full Disk Encryption forum: This implementation will end up being the largest single implementation ever, and...; Tags: Security, Government technology, disk, encryption; Blog posts 2006-12-29
UK ditches plan for mega ID database: The British government is having second thoughts - serious second thoughts about plans to create a national database that would hold personal information and biometric data for British citizens, Silicon.com reports. The National Identity Register NIR was to be the giant database at the heart of...; Tags: International, Security, Privacy, National Identity Register, biometric data, Government technology; Blog posts 2006-12-20
VA agencies skewered over weak security measures: The majority of Virginia government agencies are doing an unacceptable job of protecting the huge amounts of sensitive information entrusted to them, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports on a state report. Of 104 state agencies surveyed, 80 percent had inadequate security programs, the report said. "There are significant risks...; Tags: Social Security, J. Kucharski, security, Virginia Information Technologies Agency, agency; Blog posts 2006-12-13
Hackers shut down student network at Naval War College: Hackers attacked the computer network at the Naval War College in Newport, taking down the schools network for more than two weeks, including some e-mail services and the colleges Web site, AP reports. The intrusion was detected Nov. 16 on the unclassified network. No word on when the network...; Tags: network, Defense, Security, Government technology; Blog posts 2006-12-06