Technically News – 12/2

Technically News scans thousands of industry articles to present you with a weekly source of IT news, information, and ideas that impact the public sector.

What IT Can Teach Utilities About Cybersecurity & Smart Grids

In 2012, 41% of the Department of Homeland Security’s Industrial Control Systems Computer Emergency Response Team’s investigations involved the energy industry. Based on the systems currently in place - some energy organizations still rely on Windows 95 - protecting that infrastructure is an IT problem before it’s a security one. Information Week has the scoop.

Open Source Benefits to Govt Outweigh Misconceptions, Report Says

A recent GovLoop survey found that while government IT employees have concerns about working with open source, they pale in comparison to the benefits of using the technology. They also found that most of those concerns were, in part, due to open source misconceptions. Tech President wrote about those findings and included government open source projects to illustrate its wide-spread adoption.

5 Ways to Keep large IT Projects From Tanking

In November, Richard Spires, the former chief information officer at the Department of Homeland Security, offered five tips to ensure future projects like Healthcare.gov don’t implode like that one did. GovHealth IT takes a look at each one in a recent article.

Continuous Monitoring, Maintenance Needed to Maintain Cybersecurity

Over the past two months, Tech Target has produced a series on cybersecurity featuring Ron Ross, a senior computer scientist and information security researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). They were on security controls, strategy, the keys to cybersecurity, and continuous monitoring. We recommend taking a look.

Improving Federal Cybersecurity Need Not Involve Congress

When people discuss why public sector cybersecurity takes so long to implement, they frequently bring up Congress, the president, politics, and/or the federal government as whole. While they are excuses, GCN wants to make it clear that that’s all they are: excuses. They wrote an article about it.