As IT systems continue to grow in size and sophistication, greater security measures are needed to ensure that critical data stays secure. Enter Continuous Monitoring. The automated process creates data on the status of operational and business processes that goes into constant feedback loop, allowing the system to constantly quantify risks and potential compromises to the system against a constantly changing environment. With constant awareness, those said risks and compromises can be dealt with immediately creating a secure network.

The Open Government Initiative set forth by the Obama Administration in 2009 requires Federal agencies to take immediate steps to achieve milestones in transparency, participation, and citizen collaboration. Most Federal, state, and local organizations have jumped on the social media bandwagon as a tool for communicating with citizens and making their agency’s goals transparent. However, the average American largely still feels disconnected from large impersonal agencies. An excellent example of the inability of large organizations to genuinely connect with citizens is their Twitter feeds. Most agency Twitter feeds are merely pushing out information, not engaging in conversation. An article published by the Campaign for a Stronger Democracy, an independent group, noted “if you work for a government agency, and you’re interested in social media, ask yourself, can any average person name one person from your agency? If they can’t, you have failed at social media for your organization.”

An ever growing area of concern within Federal, State and Local governments is how to manage mobile devices securely- and how implement a policy allowing employees to use whichever device(s) they’d like. As these devices and applications become critical to an organization’s success, IT is challenged with efficiently managing the full lifecycle management of devices across the enterprise. Mobile Device Management provides IT organizations the control they need to securely manage mobile devices throughout their entire lifecycle, simplifying these processes across multiple device types and mobile operating systems in a single console. With discovery, configuration, apps, and policy management, organizations now have the peace of mind that their mobile devices, critical data, and networks are secure from potential threats.

Since the passing of the Federal Information Security Management Act in 2002 (FISMA), the Office of Inspector General (OIG) has been required to perform yearly audits on their agencies IT security programs. After the completion of the FY2012 audit for the General Services Administration, it appears the IT Security Program has some work to do. The audit released today uncovered three glaring security control deficiencies, majority seemingly the result of inattentiveness.

Appearing before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs on September 13th was U.S. General Services Administration Acting Administrator, Dan Tangherlini. Tangherlini testified that changes GSA made within the past five months has projected to save more than $11 million by eliminating conferences and cutting travel. These cost savings measures are the byproduct of the Las Vegas scandal in which tax payers footed the bill for an $800,000 GSA employee conference.

As the November election approaches, the Federal government sits on high pressure to cut spending to check an ever growing national deficit. The Effect: Budget cuts and fat trimming by all agencies throughout the public sector.