Government IT News For VARs – October 1, 2014
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
In news this week, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is giving departments more control over cloud services, and a new cyber threat info sharing app has been unveiled. Meanwhile, the intelligence community supports a new technology plan, and the FBI’s digitization of records has not proven to be as efficient as hoped.
DOD Redefining The Role Of Its Internal Cloud Broker
This article from Fed Tech Magazine examines how, in order to accelerate cloud adoption, DoD is allowing the military departments do their own acquisitions for cloud services. As the department expands its use of cloud services, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) will approve the military departments’ security plans and track not only how the department is operating cloud connection points but also what technology is operating across the network. These responsibilities align with DISA’s role in a joint task force being stood up to improve security of the DoD Information Network (DoDIN).
New Cyber Threat Info Sharing App Unveiled
The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center and the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp. have collaborated to develop software designed to facilitate cyber threat information collection and sharing, helping to safeguard against cyberattacks, according to Bank Info Security. The new application is intended for use by financial institutions, retailers, governments, healthcare organizations, industrial control systems developers, and the energy sector.
Intelligence Community Supports New Technology Plan
Nextgov reports the Intelligence Community Information Technology Enterprise, or IC-ITE (pronounced “eyesight”), is a new plan for handling technology within the intelligence community’s 17 component agencies. It is based on moving the IC agencies toward shared services. The IC expects to save money both through consolidation and its cost-recovery model, with a net effect being improved national security through various means, including the establishment of a target architecture.
After Digitizing Records, FBI Finds It Didn’t Simplify Recordkeeping
According to NextGov, after investing $550 million to digitize the records of the agency, the FBI is finding that the process did not simplify its recordkeeping. A new inspector general report found that the majority of employees feel the program has had an “overall positive impact on the FBI’s operations, making the FBI better able to carry out its mission, and better able to share information,” most special agents reported they spent more time filling out database fields to improve search results, which “leaves less time for investigative activities,” according to the report. The process of filling in the boxes for items such as date of birth, aliases, and other fields is called “indexing.”
Government IT Talking Points:
The FBI Director criticizes Apple and Google privacy features as “beyond the law,” for adopting new policies that will block police from accessing private data on phones and tablet computers, stating that he is “very concerned” that this could help thwart the investigation of criminal activity, and even bolster the efforts of terrorist.
For more news and insights, visit BSMinfo’s Government IT Resource Center.