Government Acquisitions, Inc. in partnership with Juniper Networks is pleased participate in the USDA GWCC Expo on July 14, 2015 at the USDA George Washington Carver Center.
Government Acquisitions, Inc. (GAI) is pleased to announce that we have been awarded a NIH CIO-CS GWAC contract vehicle.
NIH CIO-CS is a 10-year, Government-Wide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) for IT commodities/solutions that can be used by any Federal civilian or DoD agency to fulfill mission critical requirements while meeting their socioeconomic goals.
Additional Information can be found here
NewsMany news outlets declared 2014 to be “The Year of the Breach,” especially for government. The title seems appropriate. Last year, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the State Department, and even the White House fell victim to successful hacks that resulted in sensitive information being exposed to adversaries and the public.
And that’s just the beginning. Nearly every state experienced a government network breach during 2014, while simultaneously managing disruptions in commerce caused by hacks of companies such as Home Depot, Staples, and Target. Even localities were not exempt — Rapid City, N.D., and Napa, Calif., are just two cities whose websites were hacked.
Nevertheless, maybe we should reconsider that title and be a little more optimistic. Instead of “Year of the Breach,” can we consider 2014 to be the “Year of Lessons”? Maybe the “Year of Progress”? While government-at-large certainly faced setbacks in the cyber world, many agencies also took great steps toward security. At the federal level, commitments were made and plans drawn to better equip smaller entities with the resources and strategies necessary to protect their networks. Locally, many organizations created new partnerships and streamlined their internal systems to achieve greater security at less cost.
This guide explores how local, state, and federal governments have learned from successful attacks of the past to bolster their cybersecurity today. In this guide, we:
- Describe the level and impact of advanced cyberattacks on government agencies.
- Discuss five cybersecurity tactics that the public sector has deployed to mitigate risk.
- Provide two case studies from government to illustrate each tactic in action.
- Detail lessons learned from these government tactics.
The numerous cyber incidents of last year prove there is still more government must do to secure our nation’s networks. However, the case studies in this guide highlight that innovators in the public sector are already leading the way to enhanced cybersecurity.
NewsCome see Government Acquisitions’ Chief Technology Officer, Prem Jadhwani, be a part of a panel discussion on “Risky Business: Minimizing Insider Threat” at the 2015 Symantec Government Symposium.
When: April 15, 2015 at 10:00AM.
Where: Walter E. Washington Convention Center
Washington, D.C.
About the Event
We are pleased to announce that the 2015 Symantec Government Symposium, “Secure Government: Manage, Mitigate, Mobilize,” will take place on April 15, 2015 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.
Serious challenges call for serious dialogue. Join the leading government IT security and management professionals, keynote speaker Robert Mueller (former director of the FBI), and Government Acquisitions at this one-day event to discuss best practices in:
- The New IT: Learn how to ensure secure information access and hear real-world case studies in secure application management
- Data Optimization: Learn about data governance and information sharing in the age of big data
- Legislation and Policy: Get the read on cyber legislative priorities and policy driving implementations
- Cyber Front Lines: Discuss security intelligence, cyber crime scenarios, and advanced persistent threats
- Securing Government: Focus on insider threats, CDM, and risk management
Come see Government Acquisitions at the upcoming SOFIC 2015
(Special Operations Forces Industry Conference) on May 19 – 21, 2015!
Booth # 2128
“Winning in a Complex World”
2015 SOFIC (Special Operations Forces Industry Conference) will be held May 19–21, 2015 at the Tampa Convention Center, Tampa, FL. This year’s conference theme, “Winning in a Complex World,” will provide a forum for military, government, academia, and industry stakeholders to network and discuss current and future challenges and how to best support our Special Operations Forces (SOF) around the globe.
Additional information can be found on the SOFIC website
EventsCome see Government Acquisitions at the upcoming Annual Technology Expo for Parkersburg, WV area on April 29th, 2015!
Wednesday, April 29th, 2015
Location: Blennerhassett Hotel
Parkersburg, WV
Events
Come see Government Acquisitions at the upcoming 2015 Department of Energy
Cybersecurity Training Conference on April 21 – 22, 2015!
Enabling Agents of Change: Securing DOE through Collaboration
Celebrating 32 years of cyber collaboration in exploring and implementing new cyber technologies required to securely accomplish the DOE mission.
The Department of Energy Chief Information Officer (CIO) and the Associate CIO for Cybersecurity welcome you to participate in their 2015 Department of Energy 32nd Cybersecurity Training Conference.
As an important part of the outreach of the Office of Cybersecurity to the Department’s field and program elements, the conference provides opportunities for information exchange among Federal and contractor staff and covers technical and management issues, policy, and awareness related to the protection of the Department’s computers, networks, data, and implementation of information technology. The conference includes well-known speakers in the cybersecurity field and multi-tracked technical and management briefings on current research and practices that are useful to the attendees. The agenda structure also allows for working group meetings and workshops. Conference plenary and track sessions provide networking and in-depth opportunities in cybersecurity technical disciplines as well as implementation of Federal and Departmental policy and guidance. While technology is a key element of the conference, the focus is on collaboration in providing meaningful information as Enabling Agents of Change in Securing DOE through Collaboration to maximize value of IT for the agency.
April 21-22, 2015
Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center
Kansas City, MO
Additional information can be found on the event website
Events
Come see Government Acquisitions at the upcoming IRS Oxon Hill tabletop on February 11, 2015!
Treasury Acquisition Institute
Constellation Centre
Oxon Hill, MD 20745
EventsBased on the survey results published in MeriTalk’s recent Big Data Forecast report, about one-fourth of Federal IT execs say they have launched at least one big data initiative. In five years, Federal IT execs predict they will spend 16 percent of their IT budget, or nearly $13 billion, on big data. Federal IT execs estimate their agencies can save an average of 14 percent of their overall budget from successfully leveraging big data – or nearly $500 billion across the Federal government, and 69 percent say big data will help government work smarter.
Not only does big data analytics help customers save money, it directly affects their mission effectiveness including improved decision-making ability and operational intelligence, fight crime, increased transparency and elimination of waste, fraud and abuse. Big data is no longer about dealing with large volumes of data; it is an opportunity to find insights in new and emerging types of data and content, to help agencies positively influence the mission, and to answer questions that were previously considered beyond our reach.
While it’s commonly known that data can help track criminals, the latest data science is helping to stop crime before it ever starts in cities across the country. Big data analytics is now being used widely by law enforcement officials to identify high crime areas and patterns of crime.
The Smart Policing program, implemented in 38 different American police departments, funds and empowers local, data-focused, crime prevention tactics. A key feature of the program is “hot spot policing” which analyzes geographic patterns to uncover highly likely crime locales. Analysis incorporates information from GIS mapping and predictive analytics to search for trends in criminal activity, and to determine its root causes. For example, from 2012-2013, big data analytics helped the Philadelphia Police Department identify at-risk areas for crime and send more regular patrols to those places. The result was a 39 percent reduction in home burglaries.
Big data analytics can help with Insider Threat Detection and Mitigation. Insider threats are not numerous, but they are certainly the most costly and extensive when it comes to damages. New advances in big data analytics utilize data mining and behavioral-based techniques to detect and stop insider threats. Powerful tools such as Splunk and Varonis help provide visibility into the human behavior changes, baseline computer behavior (volume, frequency, and patterns) as well as psychosocial risk factors to weed out insider threats before they happen. They help detect behavioral patterns based on the digital footprints that people leave behind in the course of their normal daily activities. Several government agencies like the FBI are now using big data analytics to identify patterns on an insider threat continuum using diagnostic analysis.
A number of troubling events over the last several years, including the Washington Navy Yard shooting, Fort Hood shooting by Major Nidal Hissan, Edward Snowden’s big security data breach, and the WikiLeaks disclosures have called into question the procedures for providing access to facilities and documents to government employees. The Army is testing a program called Automated Continuous Evaluation System. Utilizing advanced big data analytics solutions and context aware security, the system analyzes government, commercial, and social media data to uncover useful patterns. The program revealed 21.7 percent of those in the pilot had not disclosed important information like serious financial problems, domestic abuse, drug abuse, or allegations of prostitution. In about 3 percent of cases the charges were serious enough to result in the suspension or revocation of their clearances.
Hadoop is another technology that is gaining a strong foothold in the big data space. The primary usage of Hadoop is for processing massive amounts of data in a scalable manner. Hadoop enables the agencies to organize and process large amounts of data while keeping the data on the data storage cluster. Typical enterprise use cases include business analytics, extraction, transformation and loading/data warehousing, log analysis, and Web search engines.
With all the benefits that big data can bring, it’s no wonder why state, local, and Federal organizations have begun to harness it as a powerful tool not only in decision-making, but as a means to enhance security and foster a better relationship with the public. The impact of big data will be transformational; the path to effectively harnessing it does not require the agencies to start from scratch with green field investments. It is clear that the government can build iteratively on the capabilities and technologies it already has in place. Agencies looking to leverage big data solutions will have to start evolving their IT infrastructures including massively scalable storage and network infrastructure designs, as well as considerations for data protection, data sharing, data reuse, ongoing analysis, compliance, security/privacy issues, data retention and availability.
Federal IT professionals report, on average, that it will take their agency at least three years to fully take advantage of big data. Have you started your big data journey yet? Are you ready to leverage the power of big data in you agency? The time has come to start thinking about big data and how it can help your agency support mission outcomes. I would encourage you to reach out to the big data experts at Government Acquisitions and let them help you realize the full potential of your data to positively influence and further your agency mission.
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