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At the AFCEA Cyber Security Symposium 2013, leaders from across the federal government spoke about improving training and education in an effort to expand the cyber security workforce.

Reference ( http://www.federalnewsradio.com/522/3062651/HUBZone-program-in-transitio... )

InfusionPoints is exhibiting at the North Carolina Telecommunications Industry Association (NCTIA) today, Monday October 29th through tomorrow, Tuesday October 30th at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro, NC. If you are at the conference, stop by and see us!!!

Conference Information may be found here

Note: This post is about an ongoing issue and is based on available information. Updates will be amended, and corrections made as new information becomes available.

I recently registered for a website hosted by a government agency that handles some of the most sensitive personal information available within U.S. Government. While the site is only a simple scheduling system, imagine my dismay when I received an email confirming my registration that included both my username in password in the email body. That email demonstrates that, despite all of the reported attention to security over the past several years, especially within the Federal Government, we are failing to build an effective information security culture.

As just about everyone who reads the news knows, Google announced on Tuesday, January 24, 2012 that it would merge the data it collects from individual users across all of its properties starting March 1, 2012. Basically, Google will be able to better anticipate how to direct individual user activities to best serve their needs, building a grand database of all user activity and behaviors. The question that few are asking, though, is what the impact will be on businesses. That's where things get really complicated.

I've always been a strong proponent of the judicious use of strong authentication. Due to the government's push to introduce smart cards (known as HSPD-12), and industry standards like PCI, multi-factor authentication is becoming increasingly common for certain system access scenarios across a wide range of organizations.

Imagine that each of us would need a tank to safely drive on the road. We would be well protected from any obstacles that could come our way, but at the expense of speed, agility, and cost. We could also blow each other up, forcing us to buy bigger and better tanks all of the time to retain a consistent state of security. That's the kind of environment that companies face when using the Internet. Rather than being able to invest in economical transport, each has to regularly procure stronger individual protection to defend themselves. What went wrong?

Organizations are demanding access to data and services anytime from anywhere on any device. Users really only require a device with a browser to access many enterprise applications or services from anywhere or anytime. Organizations are rapidly developing applications to enable their employees, customers and partners to access their data while on the go.