Cybersecurity

Coviello: Embrace authentication

E-authentication must become commonplace before public agencies and companies will open up their networks for business transactions, said the CEO of RSA Security.

Digital Government

Microsoft gives away antispyware

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates says the new antispyware capabilities would be in the company's Internet Explorer 7.0 browser.

Modernization

BlackBerry maker gets NIST nod

It's the 500th cryptographic module certification issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Modernization

SSA has plans for fiscal 2006 funds

Agency plans to phase in an IP telephony system as well as implement some systems.

People

Budget calls for Student Aid upgrade

Otherwise, the Education Department's IT budget request is flat.

Digital Government

Patent office sticks to automation

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officials plan to stay focused on automating the agency's patent systems in fiscal 2006 if lawmakers approve President Bush's $308 million budget request for USPTO's chief information officer.

Modernization

Postal Service freeing envelope space

New software will support single bar code standard for intelligent mail

Cybersecurity

Measuring trust

Federal officials want a quick and standard way of determining the degree to which electronic identity credentials can be trusted.

Cybersecurity

Hashing out encryption

The National Institute of Standards and Technology plan to phase out SHA-1.

Cybersecurity

ITAA favors current smart card specs

The Information Technology Association of America wants feds to build upon smart card standards already in use in the Defense Department and other large agencies.

People

USPS execs fret over IT

The Postal Service's IT priorities include improving IT systems and network security, complying with Section 508 and hiring younger employees, Robert Otto says.

People

Davis tries license bill again

Rep. Tom Davis reintroduced a proposal to require federal standards for ID verification on driver's licenses.

Modernization

GSA certifies SiteMinder for E-Authentication

The addition of CA's SiteMinder to the approved providers list will give federal agencies a choice among 10 companies' identity management software when they offer e-government services.

Cybersecurity

Critics wary about biometric smart cards

Opponents worry about job loss and invasions of privacy

Cybersecurity

Clashing over cards

Questions arose about a directive that would force all feds and contractors in federal buildings to carry biometric cards.

Digital Government

Tracking Postal trucks

U.S. Postal Service officials have awarded a three-year contract to I.D. Systems to provide wireless location-tracking of USPS' vehicle fleet.

People

SSA mainframes to feel drug load

Medicare's prescription drug program will increase the workload on computers at the Social Security Administration in a few months, officials say.

People

Patents boss to step down

Nicholas Godici will retire when his term as commissioner of patents ends in March.

People

Keeping it private at DHS

Privacy advocates say the incoming secretary at DHS must form a good relationship with the agency's chief privacy officer.

People

Enough with convention already

A look at seven individuals for whom the unconventional is second nature