FEDERAL GOVT IT
MOBILE: New Rules Coming for How Agencies Buy Mobile Services. Anne Rung, OFPP administrator, and Tony Scott, the federal chief information officer, issued a draft policy in late December to try, once again, to better manage the $9 billion agencies spend annually on software licenses. The draft policy, which currently shows only four comments, would increase the number of enterprise software license agreements available across government. Read more
[FEDERALNEWSRADIO.COM]
EPA: EPA’s IT Modernization Starts with Agility. Ann Dunkin, CIO of the Environmental Protection Agency, discusses how the agency is changing the way IT services are developed and paid for. Read more
[GCN.COM]
FEDERAL AGENCY IoT: Are Agencies Really Ready for the Internet of Things? It’s a hydra-headed opportunity and test – and it’s not something agencies can afford to ignore. The much-hyped Internet of Things (IoT) is exponentially more risky, rewarding and challenging than yesterday’s tech arrangements. Increasingly connected, sensor-laden and data-driven systems are poised to change everything from national security to office-space management. But they generate more data and complexity than many agencies are comfortable managing, which means serious changes are on the horizon. Read more
[FCW.COM]
SOFTWARE: Federal Agencies Face Compliance Issues by Sticking with SQL Server 2005. Microsoft will no longer provide security updates for its SQL Server 2005 relational database platform as of April 2016. For federal agencies that looming deadline means they need to upgrade to ensure they are in compliance with data security laws and regulations. Federal agencies need to make sure they comply with applicable IT laws, including the Federal Information Systems Modernization Act. Learn more
[FEDTECHMAGAZINE.COM]
IT SECURITY
TRAVEL SECURITY: T.S.A. Moves Closer to Rejecting Some State Driver’s Licenses for Travel. As soon as next year, a driver’s license may no longer be enough for airline passengers to clear security in some states, if the Department of Homeland Security has its way. Federal officials said they would soon determine whether Transportation Security Administration agents would start enforcing a 10-year-old law that required states to comply with a set of federal standards when issuing driver’s licenses. Read more
[NYTIMES.COM]
HOME IT SECURITY: Rarely Patched Software Bugs in Home Routers Cripple Security. Wi-Fi devices, vulnerable to hackers, show difficulty of updating software after release. Read more
[WJS.COM]
ANDROID: Android Security: Nearly Third of Owners Don’t Use a Lockscreen Passcode. Not only is Android patching a source of security concerns, Android owners are less inclined than iPhone owners to enable the lockscreen passcode. Read more
[ZDNET.COM]
APPLE: Apple’s iOS 9.2.1 Is Here, and It Fixes a Security Hole from 2013. Users of iPhones, iPads and iPods probably didn’t give much thought to Tuesday’s iOS update, which brings the mobile OS to version 9.2.1. According to Apple, the update contains “security updates and bug fixes,” with the company highlighting an issue that can prevent app installation completion when using an MDM server. But it’s notable that one of those security updates fixes quite a nasty security bug that’s been discovered nearly three years ago. Read more
[MASHABLE.COM]
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NOW ON SLIDESHARE: Tech Update Summary from Blue Mountain Data Systems December 2015 http://www.slideshare.net/BMDS3416/tech-update-summary-from-blue-mountain-data-systems-december-2015.
BLUE MOUNTAIN DATA SYSTEMS HAS THE EXPERIENCE: 1994 to Present – U.S. Dept. of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration. Responsible to the Office of Technology and Information Systems for information systems architecture, planning, applications development, networking, administration and IT security, supporting the enforcement of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act — ERISA. Within the EBSA, Blue Mountain is responsible for design, development and support for its various enforcement database management systems, as well as all case tracking and customer service inquiry systems. Blue Mountain also provides IT security services to the EBSA, in the form of FISMA Assessment and Authorization, System Security Plans, Risk and vulnerability assessments, monitoring and investigation support. Read more.
CALL BLUE MOUNTAIN FOR IT SECURITY SUPPORT: Blue Mountain Data Systems is actively involved in implementing FISMA and NIST standards with Federal Civilian Agencies. Due to our extensive experience in this area, Blue Mountain has developed processes and organizational techniques to help ensure security deliverables are completed on time, and performed in the most efficient manner possible. We ensure that NIST-800-53 control requirements are treated consistently during definition, analysis, implementation, auditing, and reporting phases of a system. Find out more about Blue Mountain Data Systems IT Security Support Services. Call us at 703-502-3416.
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