Author Archive
Aliya Sternstein
Senior Correspondent
Aliya Sternstein reports on cybersecurity and homeland security systems. She’s covered technology for more than a decade at such publications as National Journal's Technology Daily, Federal Computer Week and Forbes. Before joining Government Executive, Sternstein covered agriculture and derivatives trading for Congressional Quarterly. She’s been a guest commentator on C-SPAN, MSNBC, WAMU and Federal News Radio. Sternstein is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
Cybersecurity
9 States Accept DHS' Election Security Support
Homeland Security Jeh Johnson urges more states to take up the department's offer.
- By Aliya Sternstein
Cybersecurity
NSA Dares College Students to Locate, Disarm Bombs Controlled through the Net
NSA officials say they will confront young computer scientists with the kinds of threats the agency faces daily, partly as an intelligence analyst recruitment effort.
- By Aliya Sternstein
Cybersecurity
Congressional Probe Says OPM Hackers Arrived in 2012 And We Will Never Know What They Took
The breaches were avoidable, according to the report.
- By Aliya Sternstein
Cybersecurity
Military Supermarket Chain's Encryption Setup is 'Unacceptable,' Commissary Says
Computer-generated passwords essentially are stored underneath the doormat, beside personal and financial data, contracting documents show.
- By Aliya Sternstein
Cybersecurity
At Least One State Declines Offer for DHS Voting Security
Some security experts say it wouldn't even take the resources of a foreign nation to manipulate actual votes using this country's antiquated tallying systems.
- By Aliya Sternstein
Cybersecurity
VA's Latest Benefit: On-Demand Cyber Training
A DHS online school is offering vets cybersecurity classes as the number of open cyber jobs and jobless veterans grows.
- By Aliya Sternstein
Digital Government
Privacy Guidebook for Eavesdropping on Americans Draws Flack
New rules reflect a shift in intelligence gathering from bugging an individual’s phone to netting communications in bulk from the global internet.
- By Aliya Sternstein
Cybersecurity
DOD IG to Probe Security of Army Patient Records
The inspection will be the first in a series of reviews of controls meant to protect military electronic patient records and personal health information.
- By Aliya Sternstein
Cybersecurity
Hackers Pocket Credit Cards While Processing USPS Mail, Snap Selfies with Dying Patients and Leak DNC Donor Voicemails
Just another week in ThreatWatch, our regularly updated index of noteworthy data breaches.
- By Aliya Sternstein
Cybersecurity
Should Secret Service Protect Emails of Future Presidents?
Until there is some type of specific intrusion, like the alleged DNC hack, there is nothing the government specifically does to help prevent hack attacks against presidential nominees.
- By Aliya Sternstein
Cybersecurity
Obama Establishes Cyberattack Response Chain of Command
For years, there has been confusion in the private sector and internally among agencies about who's in charge when hackers hit the homeland.
- By Aliya Sternstein
Featured eBooks
Cybersecurity
Hackers Grab Illinois Voter Records and Dump ISIS Propagandist’s Internal Data; Glassdoor Accidentally Outs Users
Just another week in ThreatWatch, our regularly updated index of noteworthy data breaches.
- By Aliya Sternstein
Cybersecurity
House Committee Chair Opens Inquiry Into Foreigners’ Access to OPM Data
Some OPM contractors may have handed "foreign governments direct access to data long before the recent reported breaches," according to Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas.
- By Aliya Sternstein
Digital Government
Defense Intelligence Agency Is Scoping Out Social Media Background Checkers
The effort is part of a shift away from screening intelligence and military staff every five years, as is current practice.
- By Aliya Sternstein
Cybersecurity
Hackers Target Sports Training Clinic, N.C. State; Alabama and Oklahoma Accidentally Leak Security-Sensitive Data
Just another week in ThreatWatch, our regularly updated index of noteworthy data breaches.
- By Aliya Sternstein
Cybersecurity
An Inside Look At a CYBERCOM Dress Rehearsal
CYBERCOM, when called on by DHS, helps repel incoming cyberattacks of catastrophic consequence.
- By Aliya Sternstein
Cybersecurity
It’ll Be Brains vs. Bots in Vegas Cyberwar Sponsored by the Pentagon
The $2 million Cyber Grand Challenge, sponsored by DARPA, will pit machines against insecure software to pierce the holes -- and fix 'em.
- By Aliya Sternstein
Cybersecurity
Federal Government Expects to Bring on 3,500 More Cyber Pros by 2017
The Federal Cybersecurity Workforce Strategy was characterized as a first step toward building a sustainable pipeline of government and industry data security talent that will last well into the future.
- By Aliya Sternstein
Emerging Tech
Treasury Says It Needs Some New Security Features for Next-Gen Money
The anti-counterfeit markers will be visible to the naked eye and detectable by special tools, according to a pre-solicitation notice.
- By Aliya Sternstein
Cybersecurity
Hackers Post Police Records after Sterling Shooting, Show NATO Gen. Plotted Against Obama, and Broach NASA Twitter Account
Just another week in ThreatWatch, our regularly updated index of noteworthy data breaches.
- By Aliya Sternstein