Tech Update Summary from Blue Mountain Data Systems April 2015

Tech
Update Summary
Blue Mountain
Data Systems
April
2015

For CTOs, CIOs & CISOs
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For CTOs, CIOs & CISOs
Every business day, we publish a Daily Tech Update for Federal & State CTOs ,CIOs & CISOs on the Blue
Mountain Data Systems Blog. We hope you will visit our blog for the latest information.
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Here’s the summary of the Daily Tech Updates for April 2015. Hope the information and ideas prove
useful.
Best,
Paul Vesely
President and Principal Architect
Blue Mountain Data Systems Inc.

For the CTO, CIO & CISO
COLLABORATION: The C-Suite’s Newest Power Couple: CFO And CMO. Chief
Financial Officers aren’t just numbers guys. They must actively shape the
strategic direction of a company. And Chief Marketing Officers are no longer
relegated to branding or advertising issues. They must have a detailed, almost
scientific understanding of the market and their customers. Read more
[FORBES.COM]
LEADERSHIP STRATEGY: CIOs Have A New Value-Add For The C-Suite. It’s time for
CIOs to take the lead and empower marketing to access and use meaningful data
to improve customer engagement and organisation performance. Read more
[ABC.NET.AU]

CONFLICT RESOLUTION: Frenemies Of The C-Suite: CSO, CIO, CRO, CPO. Fifteen-
year-old girls are the go-to experts on the phenomenon of a “frenemy” — a
person who is both your friend and your enemy. Yet, even 15-year-old girls
would agree that leaders of security, privacy, risk, and IT departments know just
as much about those kinds of complex, melodramatic relationships. Read more
[DARKREADING.COM]
BALANCE: C-suite Men Stepping Down for ‘Work-Life Balance’ Is No Step
Forward. Recently, Google CFO Patrick Pichette publicly tendered his resignation,
citing work-life balance as his reason. Pichette explains, “After nearly 7 years as
CFO, I will be retiring from Google to spend more time with my family,” adding, “I
want to share my thought process because so many people struggle to strike the
right balance between work and personal life.” Read more
[HUFFINGTONPOST.COM]

INSIDE VULNERABILITIES: When It Comes to Security, Can You Identify Insider
Threats? Data breaches don’t always come from faceless varmints on the other
side of the world — sometimes they come from within an organization. To
address the evolving insider threat landscape, enterprises need to think about
their own potential for insider threats. Read more
[RESOURCES.CIO.COM]
WOMEN EXECS: How Working Moms Can Rise To The C-Suite. One of the biggest
biases that working mothers face is the belief that rising to the executive ranks
means doing more when, in actuality, it means doing things differently. Read
more
[FORTUNE.COM]

WORKFORCE: Top 10 Oddball Tech Job Interview Questions. Interviewing for a
new job is never an easy task. You try to anticipate the questions, study up on the
company, get to know the person you’re interviewing with, wear your lucky suit
and do mock interviews. Read more
[CIO.COM]
MICROSOFT: 5 Things You Need To Know About Windows 10. With the upcoming
release of Windows 10, Microsoft looks to rebound from the lukewarm reaction to
Windows 8. Here are five things CIOs and other IT leaders should know about the
next version of the OS. Read more
[CIO.COM]

PARTNERSHIPS: How Can HR Partner More Effectively With The C-Suite? The strategic
role of HR is a topic that’s rarely off the agenda. Recent research from Cirrus and Ipsos
MORI provides some insights into what the C-suite wants from HR leaders – as well as
highlighting the views of HR leaders on where they can add most value. Read more
[HRMAGAZINE.CO.UK]
STRATEGIC CYBERSECURITY: What’s Behind the C-Suite Disconnect on Risk.
Cybersecurity is a priority for enterprise executives and their boards, but a serious
disconnect also exists in the C-suite on what the risk priorities should be and why,
according to recent research. Read more
[ITBUSINESSEDGE.COM]
CRISIS STUDY: Crisis Expectations Are Driving A New Breed of C-Suite Leaders. In times
of crisis, opinion elites want corporate leaders who are accountable, honest and can
deliver on promises. And surprisingly, they are putting less weight on desiring leaders
with previous experience handling crises. Read more
[BUSINESSWIRE.COM]

SECURITY SURVEY: Cyber-Security Remains a Top Concern in the C-Suite. Board
members and C-suite executives rank cyber-security No. 3 among the 10 top
risks facing organizations today, according to a new survey. Although encouraged
by signs of an improving business climate in most industries, as evidenced by
strong equity markets and lower unemployment rates, for example. Read more
[CIOINSIGHT.COM]
MANAGEMENT: Closing the NoSQL Gap between CMO and CIO. Companies have
vast amounts of customer data but without a coherent, cohesive strategy
between the CMO and CIO, organisations will struggle to maximise that data to
become a truly customer focused business. Read more
[THECSUITE.CO.UK]

LEADERSHIP DIVERSITY: Women Embrace Finance in C-Suite Drive, But Bigger
Challenges Remain. Women are more likely to achieve a C-suite position through
the finance or human resources function than any other corporate career path,
although the numbers of women making it to the top of the corporate ladder has
remained stagnant or slipped over the past decade. Read more
[DAILY.FINANCIALEXECUTIVES.ORG]
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE: The New Digital C-Suite: How Influential Is The CMO?
Developments in marketing technology have meant that CMOs have had to
become more tech savvy in their approach, and we’ve all seen the stat that by
2017 CMOs will be spending more on tech than CIOs and CTOs. Read more
[ECONSULTANCY.COM]

Big Data
ANALYTICS: Wikibon: In-Memory Databases Turn Big Data Into Actionable
Insights. Big data promises to revolutionize business. But often business
opportunities are fleeting. Read more
[SILICONANGLE.COM]
SSAS: The Challenges and Rewards of Enterprise SaaS. Over the last few years,
organizations have turned to enterprise Software as a Service to address an array
of challenges and drive greater agility and cost efficiency throughout the
business. However, the path to results has been paved with more than a few
challenges, including systems integration, data migration and security. Read More
[CIOINSIGHT.COM]

Big Data
BIG DATA: NoSQL Databases Eat Into The Relational Database Market. Of any
enterprise technology, enterprises are most dedicated to their chosen database.
Once data goes into a particular database, CIOs hate to take it out. It’s costly, and
the risks often outweigh the benefits. Read more
[TECHREPUBLIC.COM]

Internet of Things (IoT)
PARTIAL IoT: Want To Go Big With The Internet Of Things? Think ‘Some’ Not All.
Nothing about the Internet of things is small except, perhaps, the sorts of things
being connected. Close to 25 billion sensors could be sharing data wirelessly by
2020, attached to everything from LED lights to cars to industrial equipment to
doorbells. That’s five times what’s connected right now. Read more
[FORTUNE.COM]
CORPORATE IoT: Leaders Aren’t Prepared for the Internet of Things. In a recent
Gartner survey, more than 40 percent of organizations expected the Internet of
Things (IoT) to have a significant impact over the next three years. That makes
sense for industries dealing with tangible equipment, products and services. Read
more
[FORBES.COM]

Application Development
SCRIPTR: Write Your Internet Of Things In Javascript. Combing cloud accessibility
with the use of JavaScript, scriptr.io, or simply scriptr, enables developers to
easily connect devices to the Internet. Scriptr attempts to solve these problems
via cloud-based business logic and Web services, leveraged through a browser-
based IDE. Developers can build custom APIs without dealing with server and
application stack management. Read more
[INFOWORLD.COM]
CAREER CHOICES: 7 Reasons To Consider App Development As A Career Path.
With the increased demand for mobile devices comes strong demand for mobile
software developers. Here are seven more reasons to get into developing apps
for mobile. Read more
[KSL.COM]

BEST PRACTICES: Three Things CIOs Must Know About Mobile Apps. Today,
developing apps for customers, employees and business partners is no longer
optional. But somewhere between the promise of the technology and the goal of
maximizing budgets lies the real world of putting mobility and apps to work
effectively. Here are three things that CIOs often get wrong. Read more
[CIOINSIGHT.COM]
TELERIK: Progress Makes Native Mobile App Dev with JavaScript Possible with
NativeScript Beta Release. Progress today announced the beta availability of
NativeScript, an open source framework enabling developers to use JavaScript to
build native mobile apps running on all major mobile platforms, including Apple
iOS, Google Android and, in the future, Windows Universal. Read more
[YAHOO.COM]

A NEW APPROACH: Industry Watch: Developing Apps Horizontally. The most
important change in how custom software is created these days has nothing to do
with programming languages, development environments, agile methodologies or
code repositories. Instead, it’s about taking a horizontal approach to application
development, which allows for shared resources, composite pieces and staying up
to date. Read more
[SDTIMES.COM]
RAD TOOLS: Don’t Let Your App Choke During Development: Use A RAD Solution.
Every day we hear that IT teams are under growing pressure to deliver an ever
increasing number of apps. Managers and executives want to see immediate
results without understanding the amount of work that goes into coding an
application by hand. Read more
[TECHRADAR.COM]

APP DEVELOPMENT: 21 Questions To Answer Before You Start That Mobile App. You
have an idea for a mobile app that will help extend your business and reach out to
new and existing customers. Great! But before you send a development team to
work on it, you’ll want to make sure you’ve answered these 21 questions. Read
more
[VENTUREBEAT.COM]

Programming & Scripting Development
Client & Server-Side
MOBILE APPS: JavaScript Goes Native For iOS, Android, And Windows Phone Apps.
NativeScript, a Telerik technology for building multiplatform native mobile apps
from a single code base, is set to go to a 1.0 release in late April. Telerik is
launching a beta program for the open source NativeScript. Read more
[INFOWORLD.COM]
DEVELOPERS: Microsoft Adds CORS Support To Aid JavaScript Development.
Microsoft recently announced that the OneDrive for Business and Sites APIs now
support cross-origin resource sharing (CORS). The new functionality enables
JavaScript developers to interact with Office 365 APIs. In addition to OneDrive and
Sites, Mail, Calendar and Contacts are next in line for CORS support. The release
means that developers can call Office 365 APIs from both the server and client
sides. Read more
[PROGRAMMABLEWEB.COM]

NODE ON MOBILE: Build Mobile Apps with JavaScript and the Node.js Ecosystem.
Over the past few years, Node.js has grown to be widely popular for developing
web applications. The primary reason for this is that it enables front-end
developers to write server-side code using JavaScript. Some of the potential
benefits of this are smaller development teams and faster development cycles, in
part because it’s no longer necessary to maintain separate teams of back-end and
front-end developers. Read more
[HUFFINGTONPOST.COM]

PYTHON: A Developer’s Guide To The Pros And Cons. Python is billed by the Python
Software Foundation as being easy to learn and running everywhere. It’s useful for
a range of application types, including Web development, scientific computing, and
education. Google and Instagram have been among the many users of Python, and
the language scores well in popularity indexes. Read more
[ITWORLD.COM]
PERL: Booking.Com Is Proof That The World Is Still Your Oyster. Despite companies
like Booking.com hiring developers with Perl skills in their droves, the thriving
community is frustrated that there are still claims that the programming language
is a legacy code, and that it is dying out. Read more
[TECHWORLD.COM]

JAVASCRIPT: Programming Language Landscape. The Web, both wired and mobile,
is a central fact of life for managed service providers (MSPs), and even more so
than for IT at midsized firms. Whether MSPs offer their services via the cloud,
through onsite hosting or, increasingly, a combination of the two, they rely on the
Web to connect them to their customers and work processes. Read more
[MIDSIZEINSIDER.COM]

Cloud
INTELLIGENCE: Is Cloud Computing Secure Enough For Spies? CIA Bets On
Amazon. When you think spy agencies and the cloud, you probably think about
the National Security Agency (NSA) snooping on the cloud. Read More
[ZDNET.COM]
MWC: Intel Announces New Atom Processors At Mobile World Conference. Intel
has pretty much spun its wheels in the mobile world, but it’s not giving up. At the
Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, it unveiled a new generation of processors
and announced security partnerships with a variety of firms. Read More
[ITWORLD.COM]

Cloud
EMAIL DISCLOSURE: Many Feds Are Uncomfortable Communicating by Email. A
mid-February online survey of high-level agency executives by Government
Business Council, Government Executive Media Group’s research arm, shows that
fear of running afoul of the chain of command may be the most important reason
executives avoid using email as productively as they might otherwise. Read more
[GOVEXEC.COM]

Open Source
SEARCH ANALYTICS: Elasticsearch Changes Its Name, Enjoys An Amazing Open
Source Ride And Hopes To Avoid Mistakes. Elasticsearch sees some 700,000-
800,000 downloads per months and has been downloaded 20 million times
since the inception of the project. Read more
[FORBES.COM]
OFFLINE MAPS: Open Source Offline Map Tool For Android. To realize the full
potential of location-based smartphone apps, they should be built to support
offline mode and original map graphics. Creating a custom offline map is the
best choice. We were faced with this challenge as well, and the solution we
came up with was creating a separate library for this purpose. Read more
[OPENSOURCE.COM]

Open Source
***EARCH ANALYTICS: Elasticsearch Changes Its Name, Enjoys An Amazing
Open Source Ride And Hopes To Avoid Mistakes. Elasticsearch sees some
700,000-800,000 downloads per months and has been downloaded 20 million
times since the inception of the project. Read more
[FORBES.COM]
OFFLINE MAPS: Open Source Offline Map Tool For Android. To realize the full
potential of location-based smartphone apps, they should be built to support
offline mode and original map graphics. Creating a custom offline map is the
best choice. We were faced with this challenge as well, and the solution we
came up with was creating a separate library for this purpose. Read more
[OPENSOURCE.COM]

Open Data
DATA ACCESS: Feds Tap Zillow’s Chief Economist For Open-Data Initiative. Zillow
Chief Economist Stan Humphries has been named to an advisory panel that the
federal government says will help it do a better job unleashing vast troves of
data to foster economic growth and promote better decision-making —
including census data served up by real estate search sites. Read more
[INMAN.COM]
DIGITAL GROWTH: Openness Prevails But What Is Open Data? On Barack
Obama’s first official day in office, he declared that “in the face of doubt,
openness prevails” and brought the open data movement to the fore in the
USA. Read more
[INSURANCEAGE.COM]

Open Data
**ATA ACCESS: Feds Tap Zillow’s Chief Economist For Open-Data Initiative.
Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries has been named to an advisory panel
that the federal government says will help it do a better job unleashing vast
troves of data to foster economic growth and promote better decision-making
— including census data served up by real estate search sites. Read more
[INMAN.COM]
DIGITAL GROWTH: Openness Prevails But What Is Open Data? On Barack
Obama’s first official day in office, he declared that “in the face of doubt,
openness prevails” and brought the open data movement to the fore in the
USA. Read more
[INSURANCEAGE.COM]

Business Intelligence
AGILE BI: Overcoming the Challenges of Agile Business Intelligence. These days
very different types of projects are using Agile. Business intelligence is one of
them. Tony Kenney, Partner at C3 Business Solutions, explains how to get
success in agile business intelligence in his recent blog. Read more
[INFOQ.COM]
BI STRATEGY: Prepare For Two Modes Of Business Intelligence, Says Gartner. IT
needs to open up business intelligence (BI) to the wider business to support its
consumerisation. In doing so, BI teams can fund new initiatives and support
agile working practices, according to analyst firm Gartner. Read more
[COMPUTERWEEKLY.COM]

**GILE BI: Overcoming the Challenges of Agile Business Intelligence. These days
very different types of projects are using Agile. Business intelligence is one of
them. Tony Kenney, Partner at C3 Business Solutions, explains how to get
success in agile business intelligence in his recent blog. Read more
[INFOQ.COM]
BI STRATEGY: Prepare For Two Modes Of Business Intelligence, Says Gartner. IT
needs to open up business intelligence (BI) to the wider business to support its
consumerisation. In doing so, BI teams can fund new initiatives and support
agile working practices, according to analyst firm Gartner. Read more
[COMPUTERWEEKLY.COM]

Tech Careers
WOMEN IN IT: The Real Reason Most Women Don’t Go Into Tech, According To
Women. In his March 16th article for Forbes.com, The Real Reason Most
Women Don’t Go Into Tech, Gene Marks made some seriously false assertions
about why women make up a minority of workers in the technology industry.
This is not the first time Mr. Marks has gotten it wrong. Read more
[FORBES.COM]
EMPLOYMENT: Why Bankers Are Leaving Finance for No-Salary Tech Jobs. It was
February 2012 and banks, dealing with the fallout from the credit crisis, had
culled more than 230,000 jobs the year before. Stu Taylor, the London-based
global head of matched principal trading at UBS Group AG, figured he better get
out. So he left his seven-figure salary and risked his life savings on a technology
startup. Read more
[BLOOMBERG.COM]

Tech Careers
RECRUITING: 5 New Tech Trends in Job Searching. Finding the right talent match
is becoming tougher for many companies, and that struggle is spawning new
apps, marketing tactics and services. With so many new tools hitting the
recruiting market, you never know which you may run into or which ones will
stick around. Some may even help you make your mark and get hired. Read
more
[MONEY.USNEWS.COM]

Federal Agencies
IT MANAGEMENT: ‘Land The Planes,’ Finish IT Projects. In his first public address
since joining the federal government in February, Federal CIO Tony Scott said
agencies need to focus on finishing the major IT projects they start. Read more
[FEDERALTIMES.COM]
LEGISLATION: Cybersecurity Information Sharing Bill Moves Forward. The Senate
Intelligence Committee has approved the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act,
S-754, to encourage the private sector to share cyber threat information through
a DHS interface or by mail, and offering liability protections to companies when
they submit data. Read more
[FEDWEEK.COM]

Federal Agencies
MEANINGFUL USE: HITECH Stage 3 Security Rules. ome security experts are
concerned that narrower risk assessment requirements in a proposed rule for
Stage 3 of the HITECH Act “meaningful use” electronic health records incentive
program could confuse healthcare organizations about the importance of
conducting a broader risk assessment as required under HIPAA.
Read more
[GOVINFOSECURITY.COM]
CLOUD COMPUTING: FISMA Report Identifies Gaps in Federal Cloud Security.
Federal agencies are increasingly dependent on private companies that own or
operate information systems on their behalf, through cloud computing
agreements and other arrangements. Read more
[FEDTECHMAGAZINE.COM]

Federal Agencies
SENATORS: More Transparency Needed On Geospatial Data Spending.
Geospatial data includes everything from geographic location, to congressional
district boundries, to road data. Agencies have used the data for national
security, resource conservation and disaster response. Read more
[FEDERALNEWSRADIO.COM]
JUSTICE DEPT NEWS: At Odds with Google, U.S. Seeks New Computer Access
Rule. The Justice Department is at odds with Google and privacy groups over
the government’s push to make it easier to locate and hack into computers in
criminal investigations, a simmering conflict with constitutional and policy
implications. Read more
[CIO-TODAY.COM]

Federal Agencies
THE HILL: Broadcasters Want FCC Enforcement Changes For Ad Disclosure Rules.
The Federal Communications Commission should change how it enforces rules
requiring broadcasters to post ad buy information online, the National Association
of Broadcasters (NAB). A 2012 rule forced television broadcasters to post
information to an online FCC database detailing the size of ad buys and the name
of the person, campaign or group who sponsored it, among other information.
Read more
[THEHILL.COM]
FEDERAL COMPENSATION: Bill Slashes Pay Of Top-Earning Federal Employees.
Federal employees making more than $100,000 a year would see their salaries
slashed by thousands of dollars, under legislation introduced recently. Read more
[FEDERALTIMES.COM]

Federal Agencies
WASHINGTON: Computer Access In Criminal Probes Is Debated. The Justice
Department is at odds with Google and privacy advocates over the
government’s push to make it easier to locate and hack into computers in
criminal investigations, a simmering conflict with constitutional and policy
implications. Read more
[DETROITNEWS.COM]
SHARED SERVICES: Should There Be a New Federal Authority? Federal
agencies are fairly adept at collaborating and sharing resources and services
during emergencies, such as the Ebola epidemic in 2014 and Superstorm
Sandy in 2012. Read more
[GOVEXEC.COM]

Federal Agencies
WHITE HOUSE MANDATE: Why Agencies Have ‘Barely Scratched The Surface’
With Shared Services. While some top federal managers are struggling to
implement the Obama administration’s shared services mandate, other are
becoming savvy about new practices to harness such services, according to a
survey of federal chief financial officers. Read more
[FCW.COM]
GAO: Census Bureau Faces Challenges In Designing, Implementing Internet
Response Option. The Census Bureau faces several cost, design and
technological challenges in providing households the option of responding
through the Internet for the upcoming decennial census, congressional
investigators said in a recent report. Read more
[FIERCEGOVERNMENTIT.COM]

Federal Agencies
DEFENSE: Can The Pentagon Keep Pace On Biometrics? Biometrics are critical to
the Defense Department’s global intelligence-collection efforts. U.S. soldiers in
Afghanistan, for example, take iris scans of field subjects and send the data to a
DOD-wide database, where it is checked against a list of suspected terrorists.
Read more
[FCW.COM]
WORKPLACE DIVERSITY: White House Makes Push for a More Diverse, Inclusive
Federal Workforce. A new governmentwide council focused on creating a more
diverse and inclusive federal workforce will have its first meeting in April. Read
more
[GOVEXEC.COM]

Federal Agencies
C-SUITE CHANGES: Two Top Tech Leaders Leaving GSA. General Services
Administration CIO Sonny Hashmi is leaving government for the public sector,
agency officials confirmed. Deputy CIO David Shive will be taking over as acting
CIO until a permanent IT leader is named. Read more
[FEDERALTIMES.COM]
WASHINGTON: CIA Aided Program to Spy on U.S. Cellphones. The Central
Intelligence Agency played a crucial role in helping the Justice Department
develop technology that scans data from thousands of U.S. cellphones at a time,
part of a secret high-tech alliance between the spy agency and domestic law
enforcement. Read more
[WSJ.COM]

Federal Agencies
OUTSOURCING: How Private Sector IT Firms Can Work Smarter With State CIOs.
As state chief information officers begin to outsource information technology
services to make government more effective and efficient for constituents,
private sector partners face a deepening need to understand a state’s technology
problems and develop a greater relationship with state CIOs, according to a new
report. Read more
[STATESCOOP.COM]
CLOUD COMPUTING: Feds Are Still Skittish About Cloud Security. Security
remains the primary barrier for organizations moving more services to the cloud,
according to a new CDW survey of more than 1,200 IT professionals in
government, industry, education and healthcare.
Read more
[FEDTECHMAGAZINE.COM]

Federal Agencies
OPERATIONS: CIOs, Dashboards and the Cobbler’s-Children Syndrome. Many
governments are embracing data analytics, both for public consumption and to
guide their internal work. But there’s one area that’s missing out: IT departments’
own operations. Read more
[GOVERNING.COM]
ISAOS: Order Aims for Voluntary Cybersecurity Information Sharing. The
President has signed an order calling on DHS to encourage the formation of
organizations that would share information related to cybersecurity risks and
incidents and help those voluntary groups partner with federal agencies. Read
more
[FEDWEEK.COM]

Federal Agencies
IT NEWS RADIO: The Nature of Cyber Intelligence. Lance James, head of cyber
intelligence for Deloitte, joins host Derrick Dortch to discuss how cyber
intelligence has changed in recent years for both the federal government and the
private sector. Read more
[FEDNEWSRADIO.COM]
PLAYBOOK DOWNLOAD: The Virtual Training Playbook For Government. In this
playbook, we provide you with a framework to bring awesome online training
programs to your agency. We break down the process of creating an online
training into manageable components to help you understand how to make
programs not only a reality at your agency, but a victory. Read more
[GOVLOOP.COM]

Federal Agencies
DEFENSE DEPT: Military To Have Initial Cyber Offensive Capabilities In 18 Months,
Says Adm. Rogers. While U.S. Cyber Command is well positioned to protect
Defense Department networks and even engage in “active defense,” meaning it
can launch a range of proactive measures against cyberspace adversaries, true
cyber offensive capabilities have been lacking – until now. Read more
PENSION CALCULATIONS: Bill Would Switch Federal Pensions To “High Five”
System. Federal employees would see their pension calculations changed from
the average of their highest three years of pay to the average of their highest five
years of pay, under a new bill introduced March 4. Read more
[FEDERALTIMES.COM]

Federal Agencies
DEFENSE DEPARTMENT: DARPA to Put Fab Lab at Navy Ship Maintenance Center.
A high-tech fabrication facility aims to enhance ship maintenance & repair by
enabling more cost-effective training and rapid onsite production of parts and
components. Read more
[SCIENCE.DODLIVE.MIL]
RIDE-SHARING BREACH: Uber Breach Affects 50,000 Drivers. Uber, which
develops and markets a smartphone-based taxi-hailing and ride-sharing service,
says it was the victim of a May 2014 database breach that compromised personal
information for about 50,000 of its U.S. drivers, and which it first discovered more
than five months ago. The firm says it’s launched a related lawsuit and asked the
court to subpoena records from the popular code-sharing website GitHub. Read
more
[INFORISKTODAY.COM]

Federal Agencies
***EFENSE DEPARTMENT: DARPA to Put Fab Lab at Navy Ship Maintenance
Center. A high-tech fabrication facility aims to enhance ship maintenance & repair
by enabling more cost-effective training and rapid onsite production of parts and
components. Read more
[SCIENCE.DODLIVE.MIL]
RIDE-SHARING BREACH: Uber Breach Affects 50,000 Drivers. Uber, which
develops and markets a smartphone-based taxi-hailing and ride-sharing service,
says it was the victim of a May 2014 database breach that compromised personal
information for about 50,000 of its U.S. drivers, and which it first discovered more
than five months ago. The firm says it’s launched a related lawsuit and asked the
court to subpoena records from the popular code-sharing website GitHub. Read
more
[INFORISKTODAY.COM]

IT - State & Local Governments
NETWORKING: School CTOs Tackle Online Tests, Wi-Fi Access At CoSN 2015.
School technology directors and education experts from around the country met
in Atlanta at this year’s annual Consortium for School Networking (CoSN)
conference, looking for ways to use technology more effectively to fulfill the
promise of digital learning. Read more
[STATESCOOP.COM]
MICHIGAN: Aims to Grow Volunteer Cyber Corps. In Michigan, public and
private sector officials aren’t waiting for the governor to declare a state of
emergency in the event of a major cyber incident — they’re planning for it. Read
more
[STATETECHMAGAZINE.COM]

TEXAS: IT Contractors Face No Oversight, Investigation Says. Texas information
technology contractors face little or no oversight, despite the fact that those
same contractors received $580 million in the last four years alone, according to
an investigation by the Austin American-Statesman. Read more
[STATESCOOP.COM]
BOSTON: Innovative Boston Business Hub Web Portal Connects City with
Businesses. The City of Boston worked with Salesforce to create The Boston
Business Hub web portal to provide an innovative new service for businesses
looking to start, relocate, or expand in the City of Boston. Read more
[BASICGOV.COM]

MASSACHUSETTS: Want a Tax Credit With That Popcorn? There is no shortage
of data indicating that governments go overboard when it comes to providing
businesses with economic-development tax incentives. If Massachusetts’ new
governor has his way, that state will start to do something about it. Read more
[GOVERNING.COM]
OHIO: Sheriff’s Office Coaxes Suspect to Surrender Using Facebook. ABC News
reported. The 21-year-old suspect commented on a Facebook alert the sheriff’s
office posted about him. The sheriff’s office response: “If you could stop by the
Sheriff’s Office, that’d be great.” Read more
[STATETECHMAGAZINE.COM]

UTAH: Governor Calls State A ‘Technology Haven’. Lehi, Utah, may be a little
colder and more mountainous than California’s Silicon Valley, but that doesn’t
stop Utah Gov. Gary Herbert from speaking out in favor of his state’s technology
industry potential. Read more
[STATESCOOP.COM]
STATE GOVERNMENT: Cloud Adoption Gains Traction With State, Local
Agencies. The breadth of state and local governments embracing cloud
computing came into sharper focus late last week when Microsoft released new
figures showing that 395 state and local government agencies and 150 federal
agencies are now making use of the company’s Azure Government community
cloud. Read more
[STATESCOOP.COM]

LOUISIANA: Are Student Privacy Laws Hurting Students? A new law bars school
districts from sharing personally identifiable information without parental
consent. But administrators say the bill goes too far. Read more
[FEDSCOOP.COM]
DATA CENTERS: For Pinellas County, Fla., it’s all about the software. CIO Martin
Rose says the county wants to develop an in-house self-service provisioning
model in which agencies can spin up IT resources as they need them, similar to
a public cloud. Read more
[STATETECH.COM]

PHILADELPHIA: House Passes Bill To Consolidate FCC Reports. The House passed
a measure to reduce the number of reports the Federal Communications
Commission must submit to Congress every year. The measure, passed 411-0,
requires the FCC to submit a biennial report to the House Energy and Commerce
Committee about the status of the communications marketplace. It would
replace eight separate reports into one single report. Read more
[THEHILL.COM]

CONFERENCES: Gartner Announces Business Intelligence & Analytics Summit
2015. Gartner BI & Analytics Summit 2015 gives you the vital information to
remaster your skills and deliver the analytics advantage your organization needs
in the digital age in order to succeed. This summit will provide insight around
new and emerging technologies to be able to find the BI and analytics solutions
in order to cross the analytical divide. Read more
[BUSINESSWIRE.COM]
COLLABORATION: SAP Asks Microsoft, Apple to Share Hacker-Fighting
Intelligence. The biggest maker of business applications has contacted
companies including Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc. about sharing information
on analyses of the weaknesses in open-source code, which is generally free to
run and available for the user community to improve, according to Gordon
Muehl, chief technology officer for security at Walldorf, Germany-based SAP.
Read more
[BUSINESSWEEK.COM]

Technology Careers
TODAY’S WORKFORCE: New Consortium To Focus On Technical Careers For
Students. An education partnership has been launched to help high school
students in West Fargo, Fargo and Northern Cass school districts prepare for
college and 21st century technical careers. Read more
[INFORUM.COM]
EMPLOYMENT: These Are The Top 10 In-Demand Jobs Of 2015. The healthcare
and technology industries tied for the most openings. And as the economy
recovers and with U.S. employment at a nearly six-year high, the report paints a
clear picture of what industries need workers most. Read more
[FORTUNE.COM]

Technology Careers
EQUALITY: Time For IT Jobs To Be Set Aside For Women. ith women accounting
for only a fraction of people studying computer science, there have been calls
for gender-related quotas for IT roles. With new figures showing little change in
the number of women studying computer science, one industry expert is saying
it’s time for radical new measures to address the problem. Read more
[TECHREPUBLIC.COM]

IT Security | Cybersecurity
CORPORATE HACKING: When Cybersecurity Meets Geopolitics. The cybersecurity
industry is growing more provincial as digital warfare has become a routine part of
statecraft. To investigate and clean up after an attack, corporate hacking victims typically
must choose among a handful of companies, each with ties to a national or super-
national government, in the U.S., Europe or Russia. Read more
[BLOGS.WSJ.COM]
NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Cybersecurity Remains A Weak Spot, Top Intelligence Official
Says. Although the possibility of a catastrophic cyberattack is remote, the unclassified
information and communication technology networks that support government, military,
commercial and social activities remain vulnerable despite efforts to protect them, the
national intelligence director said. Read more

SMARTPHONE SAFETY: Survey Suggests We’re Not As Cyber-Security Conscious As We
Think. How many of us have downloaded a mobile app without reading the privacy
agreement? Apparently a lot. A new survey out from a San Francisco-based mobile
security company says we’re not as cyber-security and privacy conscious as we like to
think we are. Read more
[SANFRANCISCO.CBSLOCAL.COM]
DEFENSE: The Military’s Cybersecurity Budget in 4 Charts. U.S. Cyber Command spending
will take a 7 percent hit this year, even as it tries to get mission troops up and rolling in
2016, according to Defense Department budget figures. Read more
[DEFENSEONE.COM]
CISA: Critics Say Federal Cyber Security Bill Actually Expands Gov’t Surveillance Of
Citizens. Gizmodo, a tech oriented website says remember back when everyone freaked
about CISPA, the cyber security bill with scary privacy implications. Read more
[SKYVALLEYCHRONICLE.COM]

ENTERPRISE SECURITY: When It Comes To Cybersecurity, Look Past Your
Employees. Hardly a week goes by without media reports of a well-known
business or agency having its data center hacked and sensitive information
being stolen or damaged. When news of these attacks breaks, the cybersecurity
industry does a lot of hand wringing and pontificating over what is to be done
about the increasing frequency and sophistication of today’s cyber attacks. Read
more
[WIRED.COM]
AGENCIES: In Cybersecurity, Interior Traps Catch Exterior Threats. An average of
15 cyberattacks occurred in America each week of 2014, for a total of 783.
That’s according to tracking information from the Identity Theft Resource
Center, a national nonprofit that tallies such larceny. Read more
[NEWS.INVESTORS.COM]

CISA BILL: Simple Question: What Cyberattack Would The New Cybersecurity Bill
Have Stopped? The Senate Intelligence Committee voted (in secret, of course)
to approve a new cybersecurity bill, dubbed CISA (as it was in the last Congress),
though it kept the content of the actual bill secret until this week. Read more
[TECHDIRT.COM]
ADWARE: Cybersecurity At SXSW: Dell Expert On The Dangers Of Bloatware.
Fortune discussed the challenges of countering adware and other cybersecurity
threats with Dell’s Brett Hansen at South by Southwest. Read more
[FORTUNE.COM]

DATA AT RISK: Cybersecurity Experts Show Concern Over Wearable Security. The
Apple Watch will be released in late April and should bring immediate attention
to the wearables market – but that has some cybersecurity experts concerned.
More users will rely on their smartwatches to make payments, conduct business
communications, and save sensitive information for easier access.
Read more
[TWEAKTOWN.COM]
HEALTH DATA: Medical Data Has Become The Next Cybersecurity Target.
Hackers often carry out massive cyberattacks to gain access to financial data
throughbanks and retail companies, but this recent cybercrime hit a seemingly
new target: medical data, taken from the health insurance company Premera
Blue Cross. Read more
[NEXTGOV.COM]

COMPLIANCE: Speed of Tech Change a Threat to Cybersecurity. Companies are
having problems adapting to the speed of technological change, continue to use
legacy technologies while trying to combat evolving cyberthreats and have a
lack of understanding of the full liabilities they face when their data are
breached, according to a report on information security threats released
recently. Read more
[BLOGS.WSJ.COM]
INTERNET SECURITY: The Company Securing Your Internet Has Close Ties to
Russian Spies. Kaspersky Lab sells security software, including antivirus
programs recommended by big-box stores and other U.S. PC retailers. The
Moscow-based company ranks sixth in revenue among security-software
makers, taking in $667 million in 2013, and is a favorite among Best Buy’s Geek
Squad technicians and reviewers on Amazon.com. Read more
[BLOOMBERG.COM]

WIRELESS: Hackers Could Commandeer New Planes Through Passenger Wi-Fi.
Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets, as well as Airbus A350 and A380 aircraft, have Wi-Fi
passenger networks that use the same network as the avionics systems of the
planes, raising the possibility that a hacker could hijack the navigation system or
commandeer the plane through the in-plane network, according to the US
Government Accountability Office. Read more
[WIRED.COM]
ZERO DAY: Microsoft Zero-Day Bug Being Exploited In The Wild. A critical remote
code execution vulnerability affecting the Windows HTTP protocol stack is being
actively exploited in the wild, according to the SANS Internet Storm Center.
MS15-034 affects Windows 7, 8, and 8.1, Windows Server 2008 R2, 2012, and
2012 R2. It can be exploited by sending a specially crafted HTTP request to a
vulnerable server. Read more
[DARKREADING.COM]

MEMORY SCANNING: Mozilla Releases Open Source Masche Forensics Tool.
Mozilla has released an open source memory forensics tool that some college
students designed and built during the company’s recent Winter of Security
event. The new tool, known as Masche, is designed specifically for investigating
server memory and has the advantage of being able to scan running processes
without causing any problems with the machine. Read more
[THREATPOST.COM]
INTERVIEW: ID Fraud Drops for First Time Since 2010. Identity fraud reported by
U.S. consumers dropped 3 percent in 2014, according to Javelin Strategy &
Research’s just-released report, 2015 Identity Fraud: Protecting Vulnerable
Populations. The report, now in its 11th year, is based on a survey of 5,000 U.S.
consumers conducted last October. Read more
[INFORISKTODAY.COM]

ADVANCED THREATS: Hackers Breaking New Ground With Ransomware. The
enormous success which hackers have had extracting millions of dollars from
individuals and businesses using ransomware appears to be driving more
sophisticated tools and tactics from them. Read more
[DARKREADING.COM]
DATA COLLECTION: Security Concerns, Data Reliability Questions Surround
Apple’s ResearchKit. According to Stanford University, 11,000 iPhone owners
signed up for its heart health study using the new Apple ResearchKit, changing
the way medical research is achieved. A feat that used to take at least a year and
50 medical research facilities has now been accomplished in just 24 hours. Read
more
[SILICONANGLE.COM]

INSURANCE: The High Cost of Hacks. The latest information from the Target
data breach suggests that it suffered losses of $248 million. Thank goodness
they had insurance. Well, sort of. They were covered for up to $100 million,
which means it will only cost them $148 million. Yikes.
Read more
[USNEWS.COM]
ASSESSMENT TOOLS: Senate Offices Want New System To Track Website
Vulnerabilities. While Congress is preparing for what are sure to be noisy
debates about cybersecurity legislation, Capitol Hill administrators are quietly
beefing up their own network defenses. Read more
[NEXTGOV.COM]

FREAK VULNERABILITY: Why Did It Take Microsoft So Long to Acknowledge a
Huge Security Hole That It Found? A team of researchers announced the latest
widespread security vulnerability. Called FREAK, an acronym that might actually
be better than POODLE, it’s a flaw that affects how HTTPS secure connections
are established between browsers and Web servers, downgrading the
connection to a weaker, more crackable encyrption. Read more
[SLATE.COM]
BOOKMARKS: The Best 35 Information Security Blogs To Follow. Whether you
prefer bookmarks, RSS feeds, or mobile readers, keeping up with information
security trends and developments is made infinitely easier through the work of
great bloggers. We’ve scoured the Internet for the best of the best, and
compiled this list to help you find your next set of bookmarks. Read more
[GFI.COM]

STOLEN CREDENTIALS: Domain Shadowing Latest Angler Exploit Kit Evasion
Technique. The Angler Exploit Kit continues to evolve at an alarming rate,
seamlessly adding not only zero-day exploits as they become available, but also
a host of evasion techniques that have elevated it to the ranks of the more
formidable hacker tool kits available. Read more
[THREATPOST.COM]
HACKER REWARD: Company Victimized By Ddos Offers A 100 Bitcoin Bounty To
Unmask Its Attacker. Last November the Helsinki-based Bitcoin service Bitalo
was hit by a DDoS attack that lasted two days. The attacker (known as DD4BC)
contacted Bitalo to demand a ransom of 1 Bitcoin (about $326 USD) to stop the
attack and to provide information on how he or she did the attack. Read more
[SECURITYBISTRO.COM]

DIGITAL CURRENCY: Data Security Is Becoming the Sparkle in Bitcoin. Some
couples opt for a traditional wedding, while others go for the Elvis impersonator
in Las Vegas. But David Mondrus and Joyce Bayo may be the first to have
incorporated Bitcoin. Read more
[NYTIMES.COM]
NETWORK SECURITY: 5 Signs That The Firewall’s Not Dead Yet. It’s been nearly
two decades since the security pundits declared the death of the firewall, and
yet the technology still lives on. Like tape storage and mainframes, firewalls are
just the type of technology that continues to not only survive, but thrive in the
IT ecosystem, due to their established role in the network. Read more
[DARKREADING.COM]

MONEY: You Got Hacked. Cybersecurity Stocks Soar. Companies keep getting
hacked. And that’s music to the ears of the executives and investors in
cybersecurity companies. Read more
[MONEY.CNN.COM]
PASSWORD WOES: Qualcomm and Intel to Introduce New Biometric Security
Technology. Two major semiconductor companies are expected to announce
products that use biometric data for security. In one case, readings from the
human body provide automatic access to stored passwords. In the other, the
biometric reading is likely to become the password itself. Read more
[BITS.BLOGS.NYTIMES.COM]

CYBERSECURITY BRIEFING: People Are Averything: Cybersecurity was the main
focus of the recent Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee session,
where governors and attendees heard from several guest speakers and asked
questions of subject matter experts, including U.S. Department of Homeland
Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Army LT. General Edward Cardon and Jandria
Alexander, from Aerospace Corporation. Read more
[GOVTEC.COM]

FEDERAL AGENCIES: In Cybersecurity, Sharp Eyes And Speed Are The New
Padlocks. It’s distressing to learn State Department computer experts – despite
three months of trying – can’t get hackers out of the agency’s email system, even
with the government’s admirable commitment of money and tech prowess to
cybersecurity. Pair this news with revelations of NSA malware burrowed within
computer hard drives worldwide, and we can conclude one thing: a lot of old,
clichéd security metaphors are obsolete. Read more
[CBSNEWS.COM]

DIGITAL FORENSICS: Hackers Steal Trading Algorithms. Hackers have been
stealing the secret algorithms and tactics used by hedge funds and high-
frequency trading firms, according to two security companies. Such algorithms
can be the lifeblood of a financial firm, and are designed to take advantage –
often automatically – of infinitesimal price discrepancies in the stock market
that may only last for milliseconds. Read more
[INFORISKTODAY.COM]

Mobile & Web Development
HTML6: W3C Member Proposes Single-Page Apps Without JavaScript In HTML6.
While HTML5, finally standardized, is taking its place in the Web development
hierarchy, developers are already looking ahead to HTML6. This is what we might
call the radical idea stage. Read more
[SDTIMES.COM]
MICROSOFT: Launches Azure App Service, A New Set Of Tools For Web And Mobile
App Developers. Microsoft is launching Azure App Service today, a new cloud-based
service that gives developers a single service for building mobile and web apps,
combined with tools for automating business processes across cloud services, and a
new service for building and consuming APIs. All of these services revolve around
Microsoft’s oft- (and over-) used mantra of “mobile first, cloud first.” Read more
[TECHCRUNCH.COM]

MOBILE DEV TOOLS: Review: 7 Excellent Mobile App Builders. Over the last six
months, I’ve been examining and testing a variety of mobile app builders and
mobile back ends. In some cases, the app builders and back ends were part of a
single product. In other cases, the app builders or back ends stood on their own.
Read more
[INFOWORLD.COM]
NODE.JS: Building Internet Of Things Robots: Microsoft Opens Visual Studio To
Node.js. Microsoft’s approach to openness is continuing positively; from a software
application development perspective at least. Naysayers will still argue that it’s too
little, too late and that it is perhaps ‘too strategically contrived to warrant base-zero
validation’ from a purist open source standpoint. But it is increasingly only the
purists who are saying this. Read more
[FORBES.COM]

E-COMMERCE: Responsive Design Is A Must For Any Brand That’s Serious About
Digital. Responsive design is the best way for retailers to serve mobile shoppers,
argues the CEO of Springbox. He provides several examples of companies that are
doing responsive correctly. Read more
[INTERNETRETAILER.COM]
DESIGN TOOLS: Which Website Builder Is Right For You? Web design tools —
WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, and dozens of others — are popping up everywhere.
Some of them claim they’ll let you build a site within minutes. Others claim they
provide all the power of Photoshop plus native code combined. Read more
[THENEXTWEB.COM]
Q AND A: Want To Improve Your Web Presence? Ask These Questions. The online
world is becoming much more important, especially with the popularity of mobile
devices. This makes your website a more valuable tool than ever. Read more
[GREATFALLSTRIBUNE.COM]

**OBILE DEV TOOLS: Review: 7 Excellent Mobile App Builders. Over the last six
months, I’ve been examining and testing a variety of mobile app builders and
mobile back ends. In some cases, the app builders and back ends were part of a
single product. In other cases, the app builders or back ends stood on their own.
Read more
[INFOWORLD.COM]
NODE.JS: Building Internet Of Things Robots: Microsoft Opens Visual Studio To
Node.js. Microsoft’s approach to openness is continuing positively; from a software
application development perspective at least. Naysayers will still argue that it’s too
little, too late and that it is perhaps ‘too strategically contrived to warrant base-zero
validation’ from a purist open source standpoint. But it is increasingly only the
purists who are saying this. Read more
[FORBES.COM]

Databases
DBaaS: 5 Ways Openstack Trove Will Change How You Manage Databases. Today,
enterprise IT faces a challenge like never before: Provide more and better services,
be more agile, and lower operating cost, all while guaranteeing absolute
invulnerability to security breaches. Read more
[INFOWORLD.COM]
GENETIC ENGINERING: Tute Genomics Donates Database to Google Genomics. Tute
Genomics said today a company database containing 8.5 billion annotations of
genetic variants will be made publicly accessible through Google Genomics,
through a partnership with Google as well as Xiaoming Liu, Ph.D., and his team at
the University of Texas, Houston Health Science Center’s Human Genetics Center.
Read more
[GENENGNEWS.COM]

Databases
***PEN SOURCE: Security Gaps Discovered in 39,890 Online Databases. Due to a
misconfigured open source database upon which millions of online stores and
platforms from all over the world base their services, anyone had the ability to call
up or modify several million pieces of customer data online including names,
addresses and e-mails. According to the Center for IT-Security, Privacy and
Accountability (CISPA) in Saarbrücken, Germany, three of its students were able to
demonstrate this vulnerability for 40,000 online databases in both Germany and
France. Read more
[SCIENTIFICCOMPUTING.COM]
NoSQL: 3 Security Pain Points NoSQL Must Remedy. Word broke recently that
40,000 instances of MongoDB that were found to be almost completely unsecured,
among them a database for a French telecom with millions of customer records.
Find out more
[INFOWORLD.COM]

Software & Operating Systems
OPERATING SYSTEMS: Microsoft Is Developing Software That Converts Android
Phones To Windows 10. The Redmond-based company casually revealed that it is
testing Windows 10 with “power users” of Xiaomi’s flagship Mi 4 Android
smartphone. The initiative, which Xiaomi stressed is not a partnership but merely
assistance with the trial, is an interesting one because it again shows Microsoft’s
new ‘platform agnostic’ approach. Read more
[TECHCRUNCH.COM]
OUTSOURCING: Why Offshoring Your Software Development to Romania Makes
Sense. As a software maker, TechSmith had always been an in-house development
shop, handling all phases of project development internally. So when the Okemos,
Mich.-based producer of screen casting products decided not only to begin
outsourcing that work but to send it more than 5,000 miles away to Bucharest,
Romania. Read more
[CIO.COM]

OPEN SOURCE: Should Governments Develop Their Own Software? ThE dilemma of
in-house software versus outsourcing is faced by any type of organization, and the
analysis usually distinguishes between “infrastructure software” and “business
software,” with the latter encapsulating business knowledge. Read more
[OPENSOURCE.COM]
MICROSOFT: Gets Its FREAK On Fast, Patches Encryption Bug In Windows. Even
though Microsoft acknowledged that Windows was susceptible to FREAK attacks —
adding millions more potential victims — the company reminded everyone today
that the flaw wasn’t exclusive to Windows, using boilerplate that it typically trots
out in such instances. Read more
[COMPUTERWORLD.COM]

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS: The CIA Has Been Hacking iOS for Years. The allegations
are based on documents provided by NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden.
Researchers working with the CIA have presented their tactics and achievements at
Trusted Computing Base Jamborees, secret annual gatherings that have been going
on for nearly a decade. Read more
[TECHNEWSWORLD.COM]

Microsoft Azure
IoT: Microsoft Beefs Up Azure for Internet of Things. At the recent Convergence
2015 conference, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella shared the company’s vision for its
role in the Internet of Things, which features an Azure IoT Suite that combine
business intelligence capabilities (Power BI) using real-time data (Azure Stream
Analytics) with Azure Machine Learning capabilities. Read more
[GCN.COM]
WIRELESS TELECOMMUNICATIONS: Ford To Add OnStar-Like Telematics In Wake Of
Microsoft Azure Cloud Deal. This is Ford’s plan for 2015 and beyond, according to
Don Butler, executive director of connected vehicles and services at Ford: Sync and
the smartphone continues as a connection tool, although not necessarily (in the
future) the primary one. Where Wi-Fi is available, Ford can use that (in your garage,
parked near Starbucks, at a truck stop) to deliver information and updates. Read
more
[EXTREMETECH.COM]

Microsoft Azure
AMAZON WEB SERVICES: Microsoft Corporation IoT BI Suite Will Crush
Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) Cloud Business? CEO Satya Nadella said that by 2019,
there will more than 26 billion general purpose computer devices with more than
44 zettabytes of data. This data, according to Microsoft, will need to be sent to the
Cloud. This poses a major challenge for the Enterprise and individual users alike.
Read more
[TECHINSIDER.COM]

Personal Tech
EMV CHIP CARDS: New Technology to Protect You From Fraud. Credit card fraud is a
serious problem in our country, but the payments industry is aiming to tackle fraud
in the U.S. through the roll out of EMV card technology. Read more
[WPRI.COM]
PERFORMANCE DATA: Inside Slant: The Other Side Of NFL Wearable Technology.
The pending availability of performance data will make player evaluation “less of a
conversation” and more of an objective assessment, one that can be displayed
neatly on a line graph generated by software aligned with GPS-like chips embedded
under their pads. Read more
[ESPN.GO.COM]

Personal Tech
SMART GADGETS: Samsung S6 Edge With Curved Screen Unveiled At MWC.
Samsung will sell two versions of its next flagship phone, one of which has a screen
that curves round its sides. The Galaxy S6 Edge uses the feature to provide a quick
way to stay in touch with select contacts, and to alert owners to important
information. Find out more
[BBC.COM]
MWC: Microsoft’s Keyboard Obsession. Microsoft has a little problem and it’s time
we all admitted it. We have to gather the family in the living room, sit Microsoft
down in the comfy chair and have a little heart to heart. Everybody can see it,
except Microsoft — and it could be time for an intervention. Find out more
[TECHCRUNCH.COM]

User Experience
MOBILE AND NETWORKING: User Experience: The Mobile Multiplier Effect. The
rise of mobile device adoption across the world has been well documented.
According to latest figures from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU),
the number of global mobile subscriptions reached nearly 7 billion in 2014, and was
expected to exceed this number by the end of the year. Read more
[INFORMATION-AGE.COM]
UX: The Future Of Open Source Is A Better User Experience. End user eXperiences
and the interfaces they touch are pivotal to successful information technology. This
has played out in the consumer space by the likes of Apple, a closed ecosystem,
that has shown users will accept closed if it has a velvety smooth feel and
integration. Read more
[OPENSOURCE.COM]

Virtualization
BIG DATA: Discovering the Value of Virtualization and Cloud. The age of big data is
here and with it comes a unique set of problems. Anne Buff, business solutions
manager for SAS best practices at the SAS Institute, hopes to help companies avoid
those pitfalls by showing the importance of virtualizing data environments or taking
advantage of cloud technologies. Read more
[DBTA.COM]
SDN: Cisco Boosts Network Programmability. Cisco Systems Inc. this week enhanced
its portfolio of service provider solutions with increased programmability and
virtualization features, furthering its application-centric vision of new-age
networking highlighted by new technologies such as software-defined networking
(SDN). Read more
[VIRTUALIZATIONREVIEW.COM]

Virtualization
AMAZON WEB SERVICES: Virtualization Isn’t For Everyone, But It Can Be Fun.
Visualization allows a single computer (the host) to run multiple independent
virtual computers (called guests) in software. Before virtualization, if you needed
four servers, you had four physical systems. Now, with virtualization, you have one
physical computer that runs four virtual servers in software. Read more
[MONTROSEPRESS.COM]

Data Centers
DATA CENTERS: Why The Pentagon CIO Hates The Term Data Center. Rarely has the
Defense Department dedicated the kind of time and resources to talking emerging
technologies as it did Jan. 29 at an industry-day event, parading a who’s-who of top
tech officials to explain the Pentagon’s plans for cloud computing. Read more
[NEXTGOV.COM]
NETWORKING: The Rise Of The Cloud WAN. Cloud technology is pushing WAN
technology toward the consumer paradigm, as a raft of new startups make it easier
to provision and deploy WAN services in the cloud with a software-only model. The
WAN functionality moving into the cloud includes business-class Internet, security,
WAN optimization, and application policy control. Read more
[NETWORKCOMPUTING.COM]

Data Centers
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Moving State Data Center To Groton A Bad Idea. Two
weeks and two major snowstorms tore through Connecticut. Just wait until next
year when the state’s information technology data center will be based in Groton, a
facility that will be well over 50 miles from the Capitol, the Hartford Armory, and
the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection command center.
Read more
[COURANT.COM]
CAMPUS TECH: Texas Christian U Deploys Module Power System for Data Center.
Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth, TX has implemented a modular
electrical infrastructure system to support its new data center hall. The university
had limited space for its new data center, and the repurposed building in which it’s
housed “was not structurally designed to support the weight of a conventional data
center electrical room,” said Travis Cook, deputy CTO at TCU, in a prepared
statement. Read more
[CAMPUSTECHNOLOGY.COM]

Sharepoint
CMS SECURITY: 9 Metrics To Assess SharePoint Content Security. Is your SharePoint
content secure? More importantly, do you know how to assess your content
security? Given the number of SharePoint environments, it’s likely that a lot of
people would answer “no.” Read more
[CMSWIRE.COM]
ROLLBACKS: Microsoft Rescinds Windows Update Policy for SharePoint Server.
Microsoft has rolled back its policy, established last month, of pushing SharePoint
Server product updates through Windows Update. Read more
[REDMONDMAG.COM]

Sharepoint
REPORT FINDINGS: SharePoint Projects Are Stalling, As User Resistance Rises Says
New AIIM Report. Only one in ten businesses feel their use of Microsoft’s
collaboration platform has been a total success, citing a lack of senior management
endorsement as the main reason for failure. Read more
[SOURCEWIRE.COM]
MANAGED SERVICES: SharePoint Online… A Real Cloud Alternative. Today’s work
environment is changing rapidly, with more people demanding the ability to
perform their daily activities from anywhere, and at any time of the day. At no point
previously has this been more possible than it is today, due to the advancements in
technology, broadband connectivity and software as a service. Read more
[ITWEB.CO.ZA]

Sharepoint
**EPORT FINDINGS: SharePoint Projects Are Stalling, As User Resistance Rises Says
New AIIM Report. Only one in ten businesses feel their use of Microsoft’s
collaboration platform has been a total success, citing a lack of senior management
endorsement as the main reason for failure. Read more
[SOURCEWIRE.COM]
MANAGED SERVICES: SharePoint Online… A Real Cloud Alternative. Today’s work
environment is changing rapidly, with more people demanding the ability to
perform their daily activities from anywhere, and at any time of the day. At no point
previously has this been more possible than it is today, due to the advancements in
technology, broadband connectivity and software as a service. Read more
[ITWEB.CO.ZA]

Network Security
VERIFICATION: Yahoo Aims To Make Passwords Extinct. If you own a Yahoo e-mail
account, you can forget your password. Literally. The search engine announced
recently that it has started letting e-mail users in the U.S. change the security
Relevant Products/Services settings on their accounts so they can opt in to a new
verification procedure. Read more
[TOPTECHNEWS.COM]
NETWORK MANAGEMENT: Top 5 New Strategies To Improve Network Security. The
most effective organizations are often the most informed about their industry,
markets and internal workings. The more they know their competitors, proactively
approach new demands and better manage their people, the better they can fine
tune their business approach and deliver exceptional outputs. Read more
[RESELLER.CO.NZ]

From the Blue Mountain Data Systems Blog
Feds Report Mixed Responses to Shared Services
https://www.bluemt.com/feds-report-mixed-responses-to-shared-services
Federal Employees Are Not Security Experts
https://www.bluemt.com/federal-employees-are-not-security-experts
Survival Guide for Network Administrators
https://www.bluemt.com/survival-guide-for-network-administrators
DBaaS: OpenStack Trove Changes DB Management
https://www.bluemt.com/dbaas-openstack-trove-changes-db-management

Help Wanted: Certified Cybersecurity Professionals
https://www.bluemt.com/help-wanted-certified-cybersecurity-professionals
Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center Preview
https://www.bluemt.com/cyber-threat-intelligence-integration-center-preview/
Cloud Moves in 1-2-3
https://www.bluemt.com/cloud-moves-in-1-2-3/
Change Management for Disaster Recovery
https://www.bluemt.com/change-management-for-disaster-recovery/

Jeffersonian Advice For C-Suite Career Advancement
https://www.bluemt.com/jeffersonian-advice-for-c-suite-career-advancement/
Ways To Survive The “Mobile-Pocalypse”
https://www.bluemt.com/ways-to-survive-the-mobile-pocalypse/
Microsoft Cloud Services Receive FedRAMP Authority to Operate
https://www.bluemt.com/microsoft-cloud-services-receive-fedramp-authority-
to-operate/
Hiring Pentesters? Here Are 10 Things You Need to Know
https://www.bluemt.com/hiring-pentesters-here-are-10-things-you-need-to-
know/

Home Router Malware Alert
https://www.bluemt.com/home-router-malware-alert/
Threat Model Deconstruction
https://www.bluemt.com/threat-model-deconstruction/
Business Email Scam Nets $214 Million
https://www.bluemt.com/business-email-scam-nets-214-million/
How to Prevent Unauthorized Software from Taking Over Your Organization
https://www.bluemt.com/the-cios-guide-to-happy-end-users-2/

Digital Marketing Predictions for 2015
https://www.bluemt.com/digital-marketing-predictions-for-2015/
SDN: Network Administrator’s Friend or Foe?
https://www.bluemt.com/sdn-network-administrators-friend-or-foe/
Mobile Payments: A Must for Federal Agencies
https://www.bluemt.com/mobile-payments-a-must-for-federal-agencies/
Soft Skills Are A Must-Have For Careers In IT
https://www.bluemt.com/soft-skills-are-a-must-have-for-careers-in-it/

Smart Cars Vulnerable to Wireless Hacking
https://www.bluemt.com/smart-cars-vulnerable-to-wireless-hacking/
Pointers for SEO Success
https://www.bluemt.com/pointers-for-seo-success/
Five Corporate Practices CIOs Should Avoid
https://www.bluemt.com/five-corporate-practices-cios-should-avoid/

ABOUT US
Blue Mountain Data Systems Inc.
Blue Mountain Data Systems Inc. is dedicated to application
and systems development, electronic document management,
IT security support, and the automation of workflow processes.
Read more about our experience here:
>> http://bluemt.com/experience

Recent Experience
U.S. Dept. of Labor
Employee Benefits Security Administration
1994 to Present
Responsible to the Office of Technology and Information Systems for information
systems architecture, planning, applications development, networking,
administration and IT security, supporting the enforcement of Title I of the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act — ERISA. Within the EBSA, Blue
Mountain is responsible for design, development and support for its various
enforcement database management systems, as well as all case tracking and
customer service inquiry systems. Blue Mountain also provides IT security services
to the EBSA, in the form of FISMA Assessment and Authorization, System Security
Plans, Risk and vulnerability assessments, monitoring and investigation support.

MANAGEMENT
Paul T. Vesely
Founder, President, CEO and Principal Architect
Mr. Vesely is a recognized thought leader in systems
architecture and delivery, having designed and
delivered many enterprise wide information and
document management solutions. Mr. Vesely’s history
includes 33 years experience in the information
systems industry, with Unisys, Grumman, PRC and a
host of clients in both government and private sectors.

CONTACT US
Contact Us Today to Discuss Your Next IT Project
HEADQUARTERS
366 Victory Drive
Herndon, VA 20170
PHONE 703-502-3416
FAX 703-745-9110
EMAIL
paul@bluemt.com
WEB
https://www.bluemt.com

Tech Update Summary from Blue Mountain Data Systems April 2015

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Tech Update Summary from Blue Mountain Data Systems April 2015