Navy CIO: commercial clouds cheaper, FISMA Reform Passes House on 416-0 Vote and more

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

• Report: US Smart Grid Cybersecurity Spending to Reach $7.25B by 2020 – a recent study by research firm Zpryme forecasts annual spending to reach $7.25B in 2020. The focus of this money will be on ICS and SCADA solutions. Via GreenTechMedia, more here.
• Navy CIO: commercial clouds cheaper

  – The Navy CIO is finding that commercial cloud capabilities can provide huge cost savings in comparison to government fielded capabilities. They found that Amazon Web Services was a 50% cheaper option to host the SecNavy’s public-facing portal. While cheaper, there may also be some security advantages in segregating public-facing websites from government or DoD networks. Via FedScoop, more here.

• FISMA Reform Passes House on 416-0 Vote – This vote provides the first significant update to federal government IT regulations in 11 years. ‘”This bipartisan legislation will address the shortcomings of FISMA by incorporating recent technological innovations, and enhance and strengthen the current framework that protects federal information technology systems,” said the bill’s chief sponsor, Rep. Darrell Issa, the California Republican who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.’ It will be interesting to see how FISMA 2.0 ends up. Via Gov Info Security, more here.
• DISA reaches initial operating capability for cloud brokerage – ‘The Defense Information Systems Agency recently achieved initial operating capability for its cloud brokerage system that will help the Defense Department and its components secure cloud-computing capabilities, the agency announced Tuesday.’ DISA’s been using FEDRamp to certify two commercial capabilities, and this advancement will surely be one to track. DISA is supposed to be rolling out the cloud infrastructure for the whole DoD, and every step is important in the process. Via FedScoop, more here.
• TDoS: The latest wave of Denial of Service attacks – a new attack target for adversaries has become VoIP systems which are so important in corporate (and government) business processes. “VoIP systems are dynamic, complex, and oftentimes require different tools than what a legacy firewall can provide, making the issue of telephony security a challenging one.” Via Help Net Security, more here.
• Hagel cancels medal for drone strikes, cyber operations – Servicemembers literally live and die for medals, and assigning them to drone strikes or cyber operations was considered a bit uncouth. He received protests from both veteran organizations and lawmakers, and has since dropped the award. Via Tampa Bay Times, more here.
• CIO Council releases shared services implementation guide – ‘The CIO Council report, “Federal Shared Services Implementation Guide,” provides implementation guidance to help agencies move toward a “shared-first culture” and represents the first steps agencies need to take when exploring shared services options.’ ‘The guide includes a high-level process and key considerations for implementing shared services to achieve organization goals and increase performance.’ These guides are important for making shared services profitable and useful, saving resources for all involved. Via FedScoop, more here.

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