Government: Federal, State and Local

RSS

 The U.S. House of Representatives passed three cybersecurity bills aimed at strengthening the federal government’s ability to prevent and respond to cyberattacks. 

In 1998, at the U.S. Embassy in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, a crash-rated, moveable barricade prevented the attacker’s vehicle from entering the rear compound of the building and, thus, reduced the loss of lives and damage to the facility.

A new report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and sponsored by McAfee, says that cybercrime costs businesses approximately $400 billion worldwide, with an impact on approximately 200,000 jobs in the U.S. and 150,000 jobs in the EU.

Bill Heffernan, a member of the Australian Parliament, revealed a security flaw in the Parliament building Monday when he was able to successfully smuggle a fake pipe bomb and dynamite sticks in undetected.

Federal authorities say the proposed design for a California driver's license for immigrants in the country illegally doesn't meet national security standards.

Why wouldn’t the government disclose a cybersecurity vulnerability? According to a White House blog post, it could mean foregoing “an opportunity to collect crucial intelligence that could thwart a terrorist attack, stop the theft of our nation’s intellectual property, or even discover more dangerous vulnerabilities that are being used by hackers or other adversaries to exploit our networks,” writes White House cybersecurity coordinator Michael Daniel.

The number of new security clearances provided by the federal government, including renewals, has decreased by 9 percent since 2011, according to a new report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The number of approved clearances dropped for the second consecutive year in FY2013, to just more than 777,000. 

The new Georgia gun law that will take effect July 1 is making officials consider beefing up security at government facilities. A metal detector was placed in the front entrance of the Old Courthouse on Wright Square in Savannah, Georgia, after the law was passed.

The report said that terrorist groups engaged in a range of criminal activity to raise needed funds, with kidnapping for ransom remaining the most frequent and profitable source of illicit financing. Private donations from the Gulf also remained a major source of funding for Sunni terrorist groups, particularly for those operating in Syria.

The Kentucky Senate has passed a cybersecurity bill aimed at boosting protections for information stored in government computers.