GPO cloud, Army IT, cyber insurance and more
News and notes from around the federal IT community.
GPO moves email to the cloud
The Government Printing Office is moving its email to the cloud, making it the first legislative branch agency to do so.
GPO is expected to complete the migration by January 2015 using Microsoft Office 365.
The move will give GPO larger mailboxes, increased email archiving, online meeting capabilities, collaboration tools and anti-spam and anti-malware services, according to an Oct. 7 statement.
"GPO is an innovative, progressive agency that is always exploring ways to use technology to enhance our obligations to our customers," GPO CIO Chuck Riddle said in the statement. "Moving the agency's email services to the cloud will simplify our IT infrastructure enabling us to use those resources more effectively."
GPO said the cloud-based system will allow for faster upgrades, greater functionality and a simplified IT infrastructure.
Unisys to consolidate Army service desk
Unisys said it will provide the Army with an enterprise service desk in a five-year contract worth as much as $93 million. The service desk is intended to be a one-stop shop for Army personnel who need help desk or other end-user IT support services.
The contract will consolidate much of the existing, outsourced work on LandWarNet, the Army's share of the Defense Department's Global Information Grid.
First DHS secretary launches cyberattack insurance firm
The first person to lead the Department of Homeland Security has opened a new insurance company for corporations that want to protect their electronic assets from cyberattack.
Former DHS Secretary Tom Ridge said in an Oct. 6 statement that he has teamed with Lloyd's of London to launch Ridge Insurance Solutions Co., which will provide "informed-assessment capabilities and insurance" for cyberattacks.
The customized assessment capabilities and insurance will enable C-suite executives to mitigate their cybersecurity risks and close gaps that can leave firms vulnerable to electronic assaults, according to the statement. Policies of as much as $50 million are offered.
The company said it is targeting the boards of directors for financial services, retail, health care and energy companies.
Takai, Day join Chertoff's firm
Former Defense Department CIO Teri Takai and former Coast Guard Cyber Command leader Robert Day are among a group of senior advisers joining former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's consulting firm.
The Chertoff Group's other new senior advisers are Chris Bronk, formerly a senior adviser at the State Department; John Sano, formerly senior director of business development at Cisco Systems; and Gerry Sleefe, formerly a deputy director at Sandia National Laboratories.
Report: HealthCare.gov testing to be done on the quiet
Insurance carriers are set to run tests on HealthCare.gov on Oct. 7 in advance of the open-enrollment period that launches Nov. 15, but participants are under orders not to discuss testing procedures or outcomes in public, including with news media, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal.
Insurers were told by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that "all testers [must] acknowledge the confidentiality of this process in order to access the testing environment," the article states. No such restrictions were in place before the site launched last year.
The current round of testing is taking place earlier in the development cycle and will last longer than it did before the site's October 2013 debut, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Cartwright: Cyber and electronic warfare shouldn't feud
Retired Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright said cyber and electronic warfare are independent military capabilities that must work together despite their different cultures.
"We probably spend more time worrying about who is in charge than about making the mission effective," said Cartwright, who served as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2007 to 2011.
"[Electronic warfare] and cyber have to come together because cyber alone can't knock the door down," Cartwright said in a keynote speech at the AOC International Symposium and Convention, an electronic warfighting conference. "You have got to have [electronic warfare] to do that."
Electronic warfare involves jamming or infiltrating adversarial systems using spectrum-based attacks.
"Integration is the art of war," Cartwright said. "That's what the commander is looking for. He's not looking for 10 tribes. He's looking for 10 capabilities that he can integrate and different ways to outsmart his adversary and come at them in ways that they do not expect. So if you become too stovepiped out of a sense of community and ethos, you often get to the point where you start to be counterproductive."