“The number of information security incidents reported by federal agencies jumped from 5,146 in fiscal 2006 to 12,986 last year, with a 70 percent increase in unauthorized access to federal networks alone, according to a report from the Office of Management released Saturday.” (GovExec)

“Researchers at the University of Maryland’s Institute for Advanced Computer Studies announced this week that they have launched an online portal that will let analysts query rules on the behavior of terrorist organizations and forecast their future behavior.” (Government Computer News)

“In the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, al-Qaida accomplished three goals: It caused a massive loss of life, it destroyed an icon of American prosperity and it wreaked havoc on Wall Street and the U.S. economy. Economic destruction continues to be a goal of terrorists and other bad actors, and cyber attacks are [...]

“The FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Service (CJIS) plans to launch the first increment of its National Data Exchange (N-Dex) law enforcement information sharing system March 19, according to program manager Kevin Reid. Speaking to GCN this afternoon in a telephone interview, Reid said that CJIS and the N-Dex vendor, Raytheon Intelligence and Information Systems, expected [...]

“They may be government information technology managers, but they talk like members of a SWAT team. “We have capabilities in place to manage any type of incident,” Johan Bos-Beijer declares about the Education Department. “We want to be able to isolate the problem, to address the problem where it exists before it impacts the rest [...]

“A project funded by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) promises to give security researchers a new way to kill botnets and targeted malware attacks before they infect computers. This week, Endeavor Security plans to launch its Active Malware Protection (AMP) technology, which it developed as part of the DHS’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) [...]

“The FBI on Tuesday selected Lockheed Martin for a $1 billion contract to build a database for fingerprints and other biometric information. Lockheed Martin Corp., which built and maintains the FBI’s current 10-fingerprint database, was the expected winner among analysts. Making good on its incumbent status, the nation’s largest defense contractor will keep its hands [...]

“Industry executives find it difficult to work with the Homeland Security Department’s Science and Technology Directorate because of the agency’s lack of responsiveness, according to a new report from the Congressional Research Service.” (Federal Computer Week)

“An interagency technology council has released a draft of a registry of biometric standards that could improve sharing of data between agencies.” (Government Computer News)

“The U.S. federal government expects the number of employers using its electronic verification system for new job applicants to more than double this year to 100,000 and to climb to 300,000 by 2009. To help support and promote that increased usage, the Department of Homeland Security which oversees the system, is seeking to increase funding [...]