Government

There's an old saying that all things end badly or else they wouldn't end. It sounds nice, but it's not necessarily true. Plenty of things simply end. The useful career of the Police, Man Vs. Food and highway A1A all ended without any catastrophic effects or gnashing of teeth. Now, with the end of Howard Schmidt's career as White House cybersecurity coordinator nearing its end, much will be made of what he did or didn't accomplish in his time in government service. That's a fun parlor game to play, but the most important aspect of Schmidt's time in Washington is the simple fact that he answered the bell when no one else would. Read more »

In this talk from the TEDx San Jose conference, security and privacy researcher Chris Soghoian explains the way that surveillance works these days, why it's so easy for law enforcement to watch private citizens and why companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Google and others won't protect their users from this surveillance.

Defense giant Northrop Grumman is hiring software engineers to help it carry out "offensive cyberspace operations," according to a recent job posting. Read more »

Howard Schmidt, the top White House information security adviser, is retiring after more than two years on the job and several decades in security both in government and private industry. Schmidt is in his second stint as the White House security chief and he's leaving at a time when cybersecurity has moved into the top tier of military and economic concerns for the country. Read more »

In a bulletin, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is warning healthcare organizations about the threat posed by insecure, network attached medical devices and the proliferation of smart phones, tablet PCs and other mobile devices in medical settings. Read more »

A U.S. Senator's bill to broaden cybersecurity intelligence gathering is in trouble after other legislators question whether proposed protections comes at the expense of citizens' privacy. Read more »

The Pentagon on Friday invited a slew of government contractors to meet and share classified information on cyber threats going forward, part of an initiative that the department hopes will reduce the risk of intrusions to government systems. Read more »

The first annual Index of Cyber Security finds that senior security officers are more concerned than at this time last year about the risk of cyber attack and other online risks, with concerns about ideologically-motivated hacktivists and the threats posed by business partners and other "counter parties" topping the list. Read more »

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin on Thursday warning readers about a previously undisclosed, critical vulnerability in Movicon 11, a product used to manage critical infrastructure including the manufacturing, energy and water sectors. Read more »

Senator Al Franken (D-MN) is demanding answers to questions about the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) practice of gathering data from wireless providers in order to monitor individuals’ movements using mobile phone location data. Read more »