Modernization

Border agency scouts for smartphone accessory to screen people and packages

Personnel would carry docking stations on their belts to scan fingerprints and travel documents.

Digital Government

Cisco takes on rogue suppliers with device to ID counterfeit parts

The computer equipment manufacturer has long struggled to keep agencies from installing Chinese-made bogus components.

Cybersecurity

Power grid hackers are of greater concern than influential report indicates, DHS official says

Authors of the 2007 National Academies study pushed to declassify the paper this month because utilities remain a terrorist target.

Cybersecurity

TSA drops ‘insider threat’ label from spyware buy

Agency hopes modifying name of anti-leak tool will broaden competition.

Digital Government

Obama directive would allow preemptive cyber strikes

October secret policy makes a distinction between ‘network defense’ and ‘cyber operations,’ report says.

Cybersecurity

Do we need cyber cops for cars?

Regulators plan ‘rule-making ready’ research on vehicle control system security.

Cybersecurity

Former feds take vital cyber skills to foreign companies

Critics worry that Chinese telecom may be exploiting lax post-employment rules.

Digital Government

DHS tries monitoring social media for signs of biological attacks

The $3 million yearlong test follows the July release of a White House strategy to modernize biosurveillance.

Emerging Tech

FBI builds facial recognition app

Software for handhelds would provide ‘the biometric identification power of the U.S. government in real time, at any point on the planet.’

Modernization

Facebook IPO forced SEC to relocate filings to the cloud

Regulator’s website could not handle public interest in the social titan’s financials ahead of the May 17 stock debut.

Cybersecurity

Governments and companies band together to push cyber protections

Organizations that fail to follow the protocols could be more vulnerable to lawsuits.

Cybersecurity

Obama and Romney could rewrite cyber org charts

Romney might concentrate U.S. network security within the Pentagon and drop civilian regulators.

Modernization

Military sends aerial maps of Sandy damage to FEMA smartphones

Responders can see the imagery on mobile devices even when cell service drops.

Digital Government

Pentagon’s roving intel center helps emergency responders

When civilian officials call, Defense dispatches mobile geospatial data center packed with communications gear, mapping equipment and analysts.

Cybersecurity

FBI starts new initiative to name hackers

The bureau’s plan dovetails with a Pentagon warning that intruders will be identified and retaliated against.