GOVTek Monthly Newsletter: Issue 72, August 2010

In This Issue
GTRA Council Meeting
Council Meeting Awards
Industry Events
Connect with GTRA
Top Headlines
GTRA Research Briefs
Featured News
Research & Publications
Dec 2010 GTRA Security Council Meeting
Dec 2010 GTRA Defense Council Meeting
GOVTek Executive Awards
GTRA Council
GTRA Council Meeting
June 6-8, 2010
Bedford, PA
The invitation-only June 2010 GTRA Technology Council Meeting brought together Government technology leaders for 3-days of executive-level meetings focused on the key areas driving government IT transformation:
  • Cloud Computing
  • Cyber Security & Risk Management
  • Open Government Directive
  • Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Modernization
  • Data Center Consolidation
  • Social Media & Web 2.0
  • Defense / Intelligence / Civilian Agency Collaboration
  • Leadership, Workforce & Performance Management




Council Meeting Awards












GTRA Council Meeting Solution Providers
Accenture

ArcSight

Authernative
BigFix

Booz Allen Hamilton
Citizant
Criterion
eGlobalTech
Fortify
IBM

LexisNexis
Lumension
MaaS by Fiberlink
NetWitness

Patriot
PPC
Q1 Labs
SecureWorks
Software AG
SonicWALL

Troux
Verdasys
GTRA Partners
AIM Global
CFOZone
CFOBook
CIOZone
FEAC
Fed IT LinkedIn
GCIO
GOVBook
Graduate School
ICT
IJIS
InfoWeek
ISACA
(ISC)2
ISSA
Jennifer Schaus
KO Solutions
Mingle360
NASCIO
IEM
OMG
BPM/SOA

Telework Exchange
UCSA
Winvale
Industry Events
August 1-3, 2010: National Forum on Criminal Justice and Public Safety
This year's theme is "Navigating Evidence Based Policies and Practices." As budgets dwindle, addressing chronic problems facing communities is more challenging. Leaders at all levels of government are relying on evidence-based policies and practices to establish funding priorities. The 2010 National Forum on Criminal Justice & Public Safety will convene leaders from state, tribal, and local governments and the private sector to work collaboratively in navigating the choppy waters of improving community safety and find the most effective course of evidence-based policies and practices on which they can sail towards success.

August 10, 2010: Complimentary "Serious About Security:  Protecting Remote Workers" Webcast
"Serious About Security: Protecting Remote Workers" is a complimentary Webcast that will focus on government agencies' successful tactics to ensure workers on the move are secure and connected. Agency representatives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will discuss key technology and training considerations and how their organization is effectively securing mobile workers with personally identifiable information (PII).  For more information and to register, please visit www.teleworkexchange.com/
protectingremoteworkers.

October 7, 2010: Fall Telework Exchange Town Hall Meeting
OPM Director John Berry will deliver the morning keynote address, titled "The Flexibility Revolution - Flex Your Telework Muscle," at the Telework Exchange Fall Town Hall Meeting on Thursday, October 7 in Washington D.C.  The all-day event will explore the government's best in telework performance, management, and technology.  Registration is complimentary for government employees. For additional information and to register, please visit www.teleworkexchange.com/
townhallmeeting.

November 1-3, 2010: AIM Expo
The AIM Expo is THE Auto ID & Mobile IT Annual Industry Showcase! Auto ID & Mobile IT technologies identify, track, record, store and communicate essential business or product data, and serve as the front end of enterprise software systems, providing fast and accurate collection and entry of data. The AIM Expo is the ONLY integrated Auto ID & Mobile IT showcase highlighting technology solutions for: Government, Healthcare, Manufacturing & Retail.

Connect with GTRA



"GTRA provides collaboration and networking with executives from across the federal government and commercial business partners in a non-hostile, non-political environment which is invaluable."

- David DeVries, Chief Architect and Principal Director, Deputy CIO, DoD
Top Headlines

Making Telework Happen: It's Up to Managers Now
With managers cited as the biggest barrier to telework adoption, the onus is on them to become leaders in this area   

Transportation Paves Way for Online Employee Collaboration
IdeaHub allows the 55,000 DoT employees work together, share ideas and make suggestions   

Army Becomes Net Dependent, CIO Says
The new term "Net Dependent" describes the Army's realization that everything it does is based on its network   

Cyber Defense Needs a Good Offense, Alexander Says
The focus needs to be on real-time awareness and "hunting" inside networks
GTRA Research Briefs

Managing Risk in a World of Shared Information
As cyber threats increase at unprecedented levels, the onus is on government IT leaders to stay ahead of the curve to ensure the security of our data and critical infrastructures. This is made more challenging with the rise in data sharing and new infrastructures such as Cloud, both of which ultimately result in data moving outside of your control. In this GTRA Research Brief, we will look at what is causing this rise in data sharing, what potential threats exist, and share ideas on what you can do to minimize your risk.

Trust: The Foundation of Effective Teams & Good Leadership
As part of our commitment to focus on developing leadership skills in the federal IT community, this GTRA Research Brief will focus on a cultural characteristic we feel is critical to achieve deparment/agency-wide success: Trust. In this Brief, we will discuss why Trust is important and give the reader a list of actions he/she can take immediately to begin to demonstrate their commitment to Trust and ultimately help establish a
culture of Trust in their organization.
Featured News

U.S. Understanding of Cyberwar Still Immature, Says Former NSA Director
Strong need exists for focus on policies, technologies and rules surrounding cyber defenses 

DISA Takes Lead in Defense Enterprise Infrastructure
Agency focuses on information sharing and collaboration with the new US Cyber Command   

Governmentwide Security Certification Could Bolster Cloud, Report Says
The FedRAMP initiative is expected to positively impact cloud adoption   

Which Products Top the List of Security Concerns?
Adobe Acrobat Readers and Microsoft Explorer top the list of this study
Research & Publications

Growing Risk of Advanced Threats
This white paper summarizes the results of a comprehensive study on advanced threats conducted by the Ponemon Institute and NetWitness Corporation, surveying 591 IT and IT security practitioners located in the United States.  The results of the study showed the predominant majority of advanced threats are represented by unknown, zero-day attacks, and there are increasingly many instances where known attacks are being re-engineered and repackaged to extend their usefulness.

Security in Public and Private Cloud Infrastructures
This paper examines the current state of cloud computing security and details common security measures deployed in the industry. Potential cloud customers should research vendor security measures and receive detailed product information to help them make final cloud computing purchases. While security is important, businesses should be aware of common security myths and misperceptions concerning cloud-based computing.

Ponemon Institute Discovers Majority of Business LeadersUnderestimate Risk of Advanced Cyber Threats
NetWitness Corporation today announced the results of a research study by the Ponemon Institute on advanced threat prevalence, impact and preparedness. The study demonstrates that a vast majority of enterprises of all sizes regularly fall victim to advanced cyber threats, at the same time, more than half of these organizations recognize their defensive technologies, personnel and budget as "inadequate."

Performance and Scale in Cloud Computing
Poor application performance causes companies to lose customers, reduce employee productivity, and reduce bottom line revenue. Because application performance can vary significantly based on delivery environment, businesses must make certain that application performance is optimized when written for deployment on the cloud or moved from a data center to a cloud computing infrastructure. Applications can be tested in cloud and non-cloud environments for base-level performance comparisons. Aspects of an application, such as disk I/O and RAM access, may cause intermittent spikes in performance. However, as with traditional software architectures, overall traffic patterns and peaks in system use account for the majority of performance issues in cloud computing.

NetWitness Teams with RSA to Provide Real-Time Situational Awareness
NetWitness Corporation today announced interoperability with the RSA enVision® enterprise security solution. This interoperability between the enVision security information and event management (SIEM) platform of RSA, The Security Division of EMC, and NetWitness' advanced threat management solution provides best-in-class technologies that are engineered to provide a higher level of situational awareness for security operations centers and incident response teams.

Cloud Computing: An Overview
An increasing number of businesses are discovering that cloud
computing can save them significant operating and capital expenses. However, cost is not the only reason companies are moving to cloud computing. This paper examines the many strategic business benefits behind the adoption of cloud computing in small, medium-sized, and enterprise companies. As with many new technologies proposed for improving business processes, customers have legitimate questions about adapting their critical applications and data to these technologies. Similarly, myths and misperceptions of new technologies may easily spread with little basis or justification. This paper addresses potential business concerns and prevalent misperceptions of cloud computing and offers interested businesses concrete advice for making informed decisions. Finally, this paper broadly describes the cloud computing
architecture that Joyent offers, including the company's unique
approach to pricing, flexibility, performance, and business resilience.

NetWitness Announces Availability of Visualize - A New Paradigm in Network Visibility and Situational Awareness
NetWitness Corporation today announced a revolutionary enhancement to its NetWitness NextGen network security monitoring platform. NetWitness Visualize adds an unprecedented capability to analyze and observe large volumes of rendered network content objects such as audio, documents, images, and video.

The Joyent Smart Technologies Architecture for Cloud Computing
The term cloud computing encompasses many different types of
services. Therefore, evaluating business needs carefully before choosing a cloud vendor is imperative. Software-, platform-, and infrastructure-asservice vendors differ not only in the type of products they offer but also in the type of architecture their cloud incorporates. This paper examines the broad architectural differences in cloud computing products, the drawbacks to more generic approaches in cloud delivery, and the Joyent philosophy of constructing cloud computing infrastructures. The paper then describes the Joyent Smart Technologies cloud architecture
from server and operating system through data center and software development platform.
GTRA Security Council Meeting
December 5-7, 2010 - Bedford, PA



The invitation-only GTRA SecureGOV Council is an opportunity for Government IT leaders to come together to collaborate, network, and share best practices and lessons learned across the areas paramount ensuring security around our nation's technology infrastructures and data.  With increased security and privacy concerns coupled with ever-increasing demands for transparency and information sharing, Government's IT elite and commercial business partners will converge at the GTRA SecureGOV Council meeting to develop winning success strategies in a non-hostile, non-political environment.

GTRA Defense Council Meeting
December 5-7, 2010 - Bedford, PA


The GTRA Defense Council Meeting brings together senior IT leaders from across the Defense, Intelligence, and DHS communities to develop strategies and identify technologies to support today's most pressing areas including Cyber Security, Information Sharing, Mobility, Infrastructure Modernization, and Military/Government/Industry/International Collaboration.  With a curriculum built in partnership with agencies and departments across the government, the GTRA Defense Council Meeting is the premiere annual meeting for Defense IT executive who view peer-collaboration as a critical element of success.

GOVTek Executive Government Technology Awards: Call For Nominations


GOVTek Executive Government Technology Awards for 2011 call for government and industry nominations is officially open! These awards are recognizing leaders with vision, innovation and remarkable accomplishments from, both government and industry, who have improved the way government delivers services, interacts with citizens, shares information, and protects its national assets.

GTRA's Government Council and Industry Advisory Board will judge the nominations and host the GOVTek Awards Cruise to be held in Miami Florida, January 29th and 30th, 2011. GTRA is officially calling all nominations in the following categories to be submitted no later than August 1, 2010:

Government Excellence:
Excellence in Government Leadership
Excellence in Project Management
Excellence in Cyber Security
Excellence in Sustainability
Infrastructure Modernization Achievement
Excellence in Social Media
Excellence in Transparency
Government Innovator of the Year
Women in GOV Technology

Industry Solutions & Technologies:
Best of Breed Security Solution
Best of Breed Mobile Solution
Best of Breed Cloud Solution
Best of Breed Green IT Solution
Best of Breed Transparency Solution
Excellence in Government Service
Women in Technology
Top 20 Solution Providers to Watch for 2011

FOR NOMINATIONS
GO TO:
GOVTekAwards.org

Special Thanks to the GTRA Council Members
Dr. Suzanne Acar, Senior Federal Data Architect (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Deedee Akeo, Chief Architect, Business Transformation Agency (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Lynn Allen, Deputy Chief Information Officer for Business and Technology Modernization, HUD (Security Council)
Dr. Peter Alterman, Senior Advisor for Strategic Initiatives, NIH (Security Council)
Frank Bauer, Vice President for Government Training and Professional Development, Graduate School (Workforce & Leadership Council)
Dr. Scott Bernard, Deputy Chief Information Officer, Federal Railroad Administration, Transportation (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Andrew Blumenthal, Chief Technology Officer, ATF, Justice (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Dr. W. Stan Boddie, PMP, CISSP, Professor of Systems & Technology Management, i-College, NDU (Workforce & Leadership Council)
Thomas Boyce, PMP, Deputy Chief Information Officer & Director, Office of Information Services, NRC (CXO Council)
 Gayle Bracy, Director, Office of Enterprise Solutions, Treasury
(Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Dr. Barry Brown, Deputy Director, Enterprise Systems Engineer, Customs and Border Patrol, DHS (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Devon Bryan, Director, Cybersecurity Operations, IRS (Security Council)
Jonathan Cantor, Executive Director for Privacy and Disclosure, SSA (Security Council)
Marian Cody, Chief Information Security Officer, HUD (Security Council)
Colleen Coggins, Chief Knowledge Officer, Interior (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Doreen Cox, Chief Architect, Director, Enterprise Architecture Branch, Office of Information Technology, Customs & Border Protection, DHS (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Patricia Craighill, Special Advisor to the Chief, Warfighting Integration, NEXTGEN/JPDO, Assistant Director of Defense, SAF/XC - NEXTGEN,U.S. Air Force (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Elisa Cruz, Chief Information Security Officer, FEMA (Security Council)
Linda Cureton, Chief Technology Officer, NASA (CXO Council)
Kevin Deeley, Chief Information Security Officer, Justice (Security Council)
Brian Doerk, PMP, Project Manager, U.S. Coast Guard (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Steve Elky, Chief Information Security Officer, Library of Congress (Security Council)
Rich Ferguson, Chief Information Officer, Federal Labor Relations Authority (CXO Council)
Frederic Foley, Chief Architect and Director of Enterprise Architecture, U.S. Coast Guard (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Ylanda Ford, Director, Enterprise Architecture, OCIO, HUD (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Christopher Fornecker, Chief Technology Officer, Integrated Acquisition Environment, GSA (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Sharon Fratta-Hill, Ph.D., VP of Academic Programs and Distance Education, Graduate School (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Christopher Garcia, Director, Cyber Security and Incident Response Center, FAA (Security Council)
AJ Germek, Assistant Deputy Special Inspector General, CIO for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, SIGTARP, Treasury (CXO Council)
Ned Goldberg, Chief Information Security Officer, FDIC (Security Council)
Peter Gouldmann, Security Architect & Knowledge Officer, Office of Information Assurance, US Department of State (Security Council)
Ken Griffey, Chief Information Officer, Stennis Space Center, NASA (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Ira Grossman, Chief Enterprise Architect, FEMA (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Chris Hardy, Director, e-Learning and Technology Center, DAU (Workforce & Leadership Council)
Brad Harshman, Chief Enterprise Architect, National Nuclear Security Administration, Energy (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Randolph C. Hite, Director, IT Architecture & Systems Issues, GAO (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Jerry Horton, Chief Information Officer, US Agency for International Development USAID (CXO Council)
Patrick Howard, Chief Information Security Officer, NRC (Security Council)
Marlene Howze, Chief Architect/Enterprise Architecture Program Manager, Labor (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Jack Israel, Chief Information Officer I&A, DHS (Security Council)
James Johnson, Chief Information Officer, Congressional Budget Office (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Richard Klemmer, Chief Enterprise Architect, NTIA, Commerce (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Mary Lacey, Deputy Program Director, AEGIS Ballistic Missile Defense, Missile Defense Agency (Security Council)
Kevin Lawson, Branch Chief, Applications Development Branch, IT Division, TSA (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Phillip Loranger, Deputy Chief Information Security Officer, Education (Security Council)
Tan Luong, Chief Enterprise Architect, IT Department, US Mint (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Roger Mahach, Chief Information Security & Privacy Officer, OCC, Treasury (Security Council)
Randy Maples, CEA, Deputy Chief Information Officer - Management, FTC (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Ethel Matthews, Senior Advisor to Chief Information Officer, Security and Privacy, SBA (Security Council)
Mary McCaffery, Senior Advisor, Assistant Administrator, EPA (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
John McCue, Acting Chief Enterprise Architect, Office of Administration, White House (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Chuck McGann, Director, Corporate Information Security, US Postal Service (Security Council)
Debra McKeldin, Chief Enterprise Architect, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, HHS (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Margaret Mech, Chief Information Security Officer, FTC (Security Council)
Matt Newman, Professor of Systems Management, NDU (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Jillian O'Connell, Chief, Enterprise Investment and Information Management, US Geological Survey (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Walt Okon, Senior Enterprise Architect, DoD Enterprise Architecture & Standards Directorate, Defense (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Bajinder Paul, Chief Information Officer of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Treasury (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Richard Prentiss, Chief Information Security Officer, Office of Thrift Supervision, Treasury (Security Council)
Ken Rogers, Director, Enterprise Architecture & Strategic Planning, IRM/BPC/EAP, U.S. Department of State (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Joe Rose, Chief Architect, Education (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Larry Ruffin, Chief Information Security Officer, Interior (Security Council)
Timothy Ruland, Chief Information Security Officer, Census Bureau (Security Council)
Eddie Saffarinia, Assistant Inspector General for Information Technology, Interior (CXO Council)
Peter Sand, Director of Privacy Technology, DHS (Security Council)
Dr. Ronald Sanders, Associate Director of National Intelligence for Human Capital, Chief Human Capital Officer, DNI (Workforce & Leadership Council)
Daniel Sands, Chief Information Security Officer, Director, Information Security and Awareness Office, OCIO, National Institutes of Health, HHS (Security Council)
Marco Santini, Deputy Director, Customer Accounts & Research, GSA (Workforce & Leadership Council)
Daud Santosa, Chief Technology Officer,National Business Center, Interior (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Derek Scarbrough, Chief Information Officer, Institute of Museum and Library Services (CXO Council)
Michael Schievelbein, Project Manager & Solutions Architect, Solutions Coordination Office, National Business Center, Interior (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Tim Schmidt, Chief Technology Officer, Transportation (CXO Council)
Robert Seay, Acting Chief Enterprise Architect, GSA (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Donna K. Seymour, Deputy Assistant for Administration for the Under Secretary of the Navy, Navy (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Rene' E. Smeraglia, Chief Information Security Officer, US Mint (Security Council)
David Stender, Associate CIO for Cybersecurity, Chief Information Security Officer, IRS (Security Council)
John Sullivan, Enterprise Architecture Advisor for Governmentwide Policy, GSA (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Peter Sullivan, Director, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Labor (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Eric Sweden, Chief Enterprise Architect, NASCIO (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Harry Tabak, Chief Enterprise Architect, NOAA National Weather Service (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Diana Takata, Acting Chief Architect, JPDO, Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
George Thomas, Deputy Chief Enterprise Architect, HHS (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Dr. Paul A. Tibbits, MD, Deputy Chief Information Officer, Office of Enterprise Development, Veterans Affairs (CXO Council)
Dr. James Trinka, Director, Training and Technical Development, FAA (Workforce & Leadership Council)
Arleas Upton-Kea, Director, Division of Administration, FDIC (Workforce & Leadership Council)
Raghav Vajjhala, Chief Enterprise Architect & Director, Office of Enterprise Architecture, Treasury (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Brian Wilczynski, Director, Enterprise Architecture & Standards, Defense (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Dennis Wisnosky, Chief Architect, Chief Technical Officer, Business Mission Area, Office of the Deputy Chief Management Officer, Defense (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Paul Wormeli, Executive Director, Integrated Justice Information Systems Institute (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Col. Douglas Wreath, Director, Net Centric Operations Division, Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) US Air Force (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Dr. Robert "Rocky" Young, Associate Professor of Systems Management, NDU (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
David Zeppieri, Chief Information Officer, Overseas Private Investment Corporation (Enterprise Architecture & Infrastructure Council)
Please don't hesitate to contact us should you have any questions or need assistance.  Thank you and I hope to see you in December!
 
Warm Regards,
 
Deborah Kay
Government Technology Research Alliance (GTRA)
202.248.5411 Office
202.536.3179 Direct
312.399.7341 Mobile
202.351.0569 Fax
deborahk@gtra.org
www.GTRA.org
www.GTRACouncilMeeting.org
 
GTRA - Revolutionizing the way Government & Technology Collaborate