Cybersecurity

IRS breach highlights weakness of ‘knowledge-based’ security

By answering personal questions, hackers were able to access information for 100,000 taxpayers, revealing how vulnerable the IRS authentication system really is.

People

The 'no' teams try saying 'yes, if'

Different departments with different goals can hamstring federal IT projects – especially when it comes to the lawyers. The fix lies in communication, early and often.

Digital Government

BLS on CPI: I'm old fashioned, but I don't mind it

One of economics' most important numbers depends on data collected by hand – data that's largely already online, posted freely by merchants and their customers.

Acquisition

Calling all space tech

NASA announced several multimillion dollar initiatives reaching out to industry and academia. The goal: investing in the future of space technology.

Cybersecurity

Privacy, security and one login to rule them all?

Government techies wrestle with building privacy and security into services from the ground up.

People

Hiring, firing, pay and training -- it all needs fixing, says panel

Public vs. private pay, management training and probationary period lengths were at the center of a discussion on how the federal workforce has gone wrong and how the problems might get fixed.

Digital Government

NASA seeks robotic spacecraft for asteroids, Mars

The technologies could play key roles in the future redirection of Earth-bound asteroids and the colonization of Mars.

Modernization

What workers – especially millenials – want

Agencies and industry face mounting challenges as young, telecommuting employees feel less engaged with their work. How can leaders keep talent from disconnecting or leaving altogether?

People

Painful hiring keeps tech talent at bay (but does money matter?)

Government needs more talented techies. Is low pay keeping them away, or is it the snail's pace – and tortured process – of federal hiring that's turning them off?

Cybersecurity

Lawmakers, experts wrestle with data protection bill

Hackers will hack. Can Congress help protect Americans' personal information? And should states be pushed aside in the interest of uniformity?

People

Is OPM's big hiring decision all it's cracked up to be?

Excepted-service hiring authority is a welcome tool for some agencies, but it's temporary relief in the ongoing struggle to snatch up digital services talent — and it has been a long time coming.

People

Wanted: concrete steps toward culture change. Can MOC deliver?

ACT-IAC's "Management of Change" conference will try to pin down the un-pinnable: a culture of innovation.

Modernization

The IRS and IT: Sorting fact from fiction

Once a "poster child for IT," the IRS's high-profile problems are now all too similar to those experienced by other agencies.

Digital Government

'Irish cynics' talk big data's good, bad and ugly

Behind the buzzwords and pointless analytics lie real potential, but agencies and the private sector still struggle to use big data effectively.

People

What worries private sector CIOs, and why it matters to feds

Consternation about rapid change demonstrates the "mega shift" underway in technology, says a new survey of CIOs.

Digital Government

The disappearance of TaxmanKeith

Reddit's favorite 'IRS Employee' has deleted his account. His case demonstrates a demand for social media engagement that IRS policy isn't prepared to meet.

Digital Government

Space agency seeks assistance on tech roadmap

The NASA Headquarters Office of Chief Technologist is asking for input from the private sector.

Digital Government

Outside techies clean up at Hackathon

Before teams from academia and the private sector could build apps and searchable databases at GSA's Hackathon, they had to do some housecleaning.

People

Rep. Connolly wants you to tell him a story

The Virginia Democrat is soliciting success stories about federal employees who go above and beyond the call of duty.

Cybersecurity

Senators question Thrift Savings Plan's security

The chairman and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee want to know more about TSP's cybersecurity.