Contractors could soon be forced to use federal cybersecurity requirements — 7 Stories you need to know

The SEVEN stories that impact your life for Wednesday the 29th of August

1. Soon federal cybersecurity requirements could be extended to contractors. Fierce Government IT reports the FAR Council is proposing a change to the Federal Acquisition Regulation that would require contractors to secure computer systems that contain government information.
   
2. Can you crowdsource arms control? The State Department has launched a new challenge — a $10,000 challenge — seeking creative ideas on how to use every day devices to help confirm whether states are complying with nonproliferation agreements. The deadline for submissions is October 26th.
3. Having you been eyeing Hurricane Isaac? The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been. The agency has sent more staff to help resident inspectors at nuclear plants in Louisiana and Mississippi. The Associated Press says they plan to ride out the storm inside the plants.
4. You know all the data you have on your smartphone. What if it was lost? or stolen? The Interior Department is looking at buying a mobile-device management product that would allow it to remotely update, monitor and shut down employees’ smartphones and tablets. Nextgov reports, the Interior Department is concerned about that data on smartphones, particularly during international travel and whether that data could be captured by curious individuals, organized crime and individual countries.
5. The White House will have a BYOD policy — bring your own device, allowing White House staff to use their own devices. But will the government reimburse employees for a portion of their monthly BYOD costs. NextGov says the White House policy is unclear and that BYOD policies are still a work in progress.
   
6. How many conferences has the Department of Veterans Affairs held? NextGov reports that between January 2009 and June 2012, VA held 948 conferences that were attended by 50 or more employees — that is about one per day. The VA’s conference spending totaled over $100 million in fiscal 2011 and $92 million in 2009.
7. And on GovLoop: What are the top open data sets on Data.gov? Number one — crime data.