Amazon Snags $600M from CIA for Cloud Services, House committee approves FITARA, FISMA update and more

By Ryan Kamauff

Here are the top cyber news and stories of the day.

• Copyright Chief Urges Congress to Produce ‘Next Great Copyright Act’ – “Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante told a House congressional subcommittee Wednesday that everything from anticircumvention provisions and fair use to length of copyright and performance royalties should be on the table.” US trademark and copyright law is a total mess, and costing the taxpayer millions of dollars a year (see Apple v Samsung). Our current copyright acts pre-date the rise of the internet and computing/programming as we know it today. Revisions here could be a huge step forward, and change the way we look at R&D and copyrighting. Via Threat Level, more here.
• DHS, intel community release data exchange toolkit – The Data Exchange Toolkit “developed following a pilot program amongst the agencies, provides comprehensive templates, guidelines and documentation for data exchange.” This toolkit has a four-part approach: define scope and identify candidates, identify issues and solutions, plan and implement solutions, and evaluate the improvement. This toolkit will aid in data sharing and exchange throughout the DHS and IC. Via FedScoop, more here.
• Amazon snags $600m CIA cloud computing deal – This new deal is worth $600M over ten years. “Amazon Web Services will help the intelligence agency build a private cloud infrastructure that helps the agency keep up with emerging technologies like big data in a cost-effective manner not possible under the CIA’s previous cloud efforts, sources told FCW.” This is a huge step forward for cloud services and the IC and will surely shape deals for years to come. Via Federal Computer Week, more here.
• Energy Department reaches out to utilities with cybersecurity model – The Department of Energy has created the Energy Subsector Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model (ES-C2M2), “to pinpoint what utilities are doing on cybersecurity and what they should be doing, a now-and-the-future scenario.” The effort is only a few years old and should provide guidance to energy cybersecurity efforts. Via Energy Biz, more here.
• Strategies of a world-class computer security incident response team – “In this talk from Shmoocon 2013, Carson Zimmerman offers some observations on what it takes to do Computer Network Defense well in the modern IT enterprise. He presents ten fundamental qualities of an effective CSIRT that cut across elements of people, process, and technology.” After the jump is a great video from the Lead Cyber Security Engineer at the MITRE Corporation. Via Net-Security.org, more here.
• NIH releases draft RFP for $10 billion contract vehicle

  – “The National Institutes of Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center released a draft request for proposal for the NIH ECS III follow-on, which is expected to be valued at more than $10 billion.” “The contract aims to allow the government to purchase information technology commodity solutions related to health and life sciences capabilities along with other IT needs.” Via FedScoop, more here.

• Botnet simulated humans to siphon millions in click-fraud scam – The Chameleon botnet took more than $6M from ad networks. It ran on over 120K Windows PCs, and was taken down by Microsoft and Symantec. Via ComputerWorld, more here.
• GPO cuts budget to 2008 levels through digital revamp

  – “The Government Printing Office returned its budget to fiscal 2008 levels and cut $24 million due to an 11 percent reduction in staffing and utilization of digital documents, the agency says in an annual report released this week.” It will be interesting to see where the GPO continues to fit in, especially in this paper-free and print-free environment. Via FierceGovernmentIT, more here.

• House committee approves FITARA, FISMA update

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  The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee approved two bills on Wednesday that could have lasting effects on the federal information technology community if made into law.

  The first is Congressman Darrell Issa’s Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act, known as FITARA. The bill aims to reorganize the way the federal government acquires information technology products and services.” “The second bill is the Federal Information Security Amendments Act of 2013 that looks to update the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002, which created FISMA.” These two acts will have far-reaching effects in the Federal IT landscape, past this era of sequestration. Via FedScoop, more here.

• Tone Down the Cyberwarfare Rhetoric, Expert Urges Congress – ‘ Martin Libicki, senior management scientist at the RAND Corporation, told the House Homeland Security Committee that making strong statements about cyberattacks “tends to compel the United States to respond vigorously should any such cyberattack occur, or even merely when the possible precursors to a potential cyberattack have been identified. Having created a demand among the public to do something, the government is then committed to doing something even when doing little or nothing is called for.”‘ Overuse of cyber warfare can lead to a “boy who cried wolf” mentality with the public. Via Threat Level, more here.

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