Beat the Clock
Wondering aloud. Remember those Defense Department systems that, by mistake or false reporting, got listed as year 2000-ready when they were not? The DOD inspector general uncovered the discrepancy in an audit and recommended changes to correct weaknesses in DOD's standard for certifying systems for readiness. DOD should independently verify and validate each system's readiness, the IG said.
AF Computer Forensics Lab nabs criminals, byte by byte
"As a law enforcement agency our ultimate goal is prosecution" When Joseph Snodgrass cut two floppy disks into 23 pieces with shears, he thought he had destroyed evidence linking him to his wife's murder. What Snodgrass didn't count on was that the Air Force Computer Forensics Laboratory could reconstruct the disks and cull information that put him behind bars.
Hey Congress, don't try to rebottle that online gaming genie
Attempts to rebottle the Internet genie continue on Capitol Hill. Some senators, it seems, are determined to keep junior from grabbing mom's credit card and betting a grand or two on the Orioles' pennant chances. The Rat is inclined to agree, in view of the ratlings' fast-evolving hacker skills and their attraction toward anything plastic with a magnetic-swipe strip. He shudders at the thought of their emptying the family bank account to reverse-engineer some online casino's roulette
NEC Technologies' Multi CD-R combo gives users recording options beginning at$349
In the Multi CD-R unit, NEC Technologies Inc. has combined a CD-recorder for file distribution and archiving, a 20X CD-ROM reader and a rewritable 650M phase-change dual (PD) drive. Users can record a track at once, a disk at once or a 2X-speed copy of a file onto CD-recordable media. For backup, the product uses removable and rewritable PD cartridges. The PD drive verifies and error-checks files after each write.
SBA redefines rules for 8(a)s and small businesses | Federal Contract Law
New Small Business Administration rules covering federal preferences for minority-owned contractors took effect on July 30. The new rules are reflected in the Federal Acquisition Regulation. Let's start with the new criteria for 8(a) status. To participate, a business must be owned and controlled, as before, by a socially and economically disadvantaged U.S. citizen.
Date code effort delays Education loan project
The year 2000 problem is hindering the Education Department's efforts to integrate systems that administer student loans. "The year 2000 problem is diverting my people resources and diluting my financial resources from integrating the delivery system," said Jerry Russomano, director of program systems service at Education. "Fixing the date code problem in our systems is taking an inordinate amount of time."
Industry leaders debate state of network security tools
LAS VEGAS—Network security took a beating at the Black Hat Briefings held last month. Speakers offered up wildly divergent views. Some called network security adequate, but others said it is irreparably broken and must be rebuilt from the ground up. "I think we're doomed," said Marcus Ranum, president and chief executive officer of Network Flight Recorder Inc. of Woodbine, Md., a maker of network monitoring tools.
Date code work on SBA systems is on schedule, agency official says
The Small Business Administration is on track to have its mission-critical systems ready for the millennium, SBA Deputy Administrator Fred Hochberg told a House committee this month. "As of May, more than 80 percent of SBA's mission-critical systems have been renovated, validated and corrections have been implemented—well ahead of our targeted goals,'' Hochberg told members of the House Small Business Committee.
DOD revamps process for overseeing IT buys
Defense aims to settle IT buying issues at the lowest possible level, CIO Arthur Money says. The Defense Department is replacing a 20-year-old acquisition process for approving information systems buys with a process that delegates more authority to the services and Defense agencies. Deputy Defense secretary John Hamre signed a memorandum late last month that dissolved the Major Automated Information System Review Council and replaced it with integrated product teams. IPTs
GSA tells agencies: Boost privacy measures on Web sites
GSA recommends privacy guidelines Stay up-to-date on Web technology changes and their effect on privacy. Notify the public whenever you are collecting data on the Internet. Use information only for the sole purpose for which it was gathered and as was disclosed in the privacy notice. Protect privacy in all forms of data, including text, graphics, sound and video. Balance Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act requirements.
GAO: Beware data exchanges
Bad date code in government systems seems less a threat come 2000 than flawed data that agencies might receive from other government and private-sector systems, the General Accounting Office reported last week. In its report, Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Actions Needed on Electronic Data Exchanges, GAO warned that some mission-critical systems may not be ready if federal agencies don't agree on date formats with all their data exchange partners.
Transportation, VA award pacts to test networks
The Veterans Affairs Department's Health Administration Center and the Transportation Department's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently awarded System Resources Corp. of Burlington, Mass., contracts to evaluate their systems and recommend year 2000 solutions. SRC's contracts with both agencies involve test planning, testing, independent validation and verification activities, said Ralph Williams, SRC spokesman.
With Mozart, Army scores update of a big '60s-era business system
The Army is putting a modern face on one of the world's largest and oldest integrated business systems. The service is modernizing its Commodity Command Standard System, a big job by any measure, Army officials said. CCSS, managed by the Army Materiel Command's Logistics Systems Support Center in St. Louis, consists of more than 561 subsystems and 5,000 programs running 10.2 million lines of code, not to mention 20,000 PCs.
Know HTML? Use HomeSite for text editing
Whether you want a straightforward Hypertext Markup Language text editor or a combination text and what-you-see-is-what-you-get Web authoring package, Allaire LLC of Cambridge, Mass., has a tool for you. The company's HomeSite 3.0 is a top-quality HTML text editor that runs under Microsoft Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0. You can't get closer to the code in any other editor.
FAA will not meet OMB's final date code deadline
The Federal Aviation Administration beat its own deadline for fixing date code on some mission-critical systems, but FAA expects that it won't make the Clinton administration's deadline for finishing year 2000 work. FAA had set a July 30 deadline for fixing date code work in 60 percent of its mission-critical systems.
Congressional funding for FOIA would backfire
Are agencies complying with the Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 1996? The critics don't think so, and they want Congress to turn up the heat—even if some recommendations are misguided. Regular readers of GCN already know about a recent OMB Watch report, which found agency compliance to be overwhelmingly inadequate. Only a few agencies have embraced E-FOIA and the opportunity to make information publicly available on the Web.
Hackers, feds say govt. net security stinks
LAS VEGAS—Hackers and feds faced off at the Black Hat Briefings last month but also found they had something in common: a lack of respect for the government's network security tactics. "In general, we don't have a clue what the threat is and what ought to be done about it," said a Defense Department employee who identified himself only as Ken.
SNEAKER.NET
Q. Every time I dial a computer bulletin board system, Internet provider or some other online service, I never get a 56-Kbps connection, even though I use a 56-Kbps modem and am dialing into a 56-Kbps service. Sometimes I get 33.6-Kbps connections, but usually it's 28.8 Kbps. Why? A. If you must dial one digit to get an outside line, you're going through a private branch exchange phone system, which performs a digital-to-analog conversion and drops
Look hard and you will find a way to eliminate PC data storage trouble
Does your multigigabyte hard drive seem a bit crowded these days, despite regular dumping of what you sincerely hope were unnecessary files? Join the crowd. I remember when a 10M PC-XT drive seemed huge. Now my 10G drive fills up so fast I have to purge old files every month. A stack of 5G Travan backup tapes stands where I used to stack 1.44M floppies.
FMSS Schedule vendors resist shift to IT Schedule
Financial Management System Software Schedule contract holders are fighting plans to consolidate the mandatory financial systems schedule into the broader Information Technology Schedule. The General Services Administration is expected to shift the administration of FMSS Schedule contracts from the Federal Technology Service to the Federal Supply Service. As part of the change, use of the financial systems product contracts would no longer be mandatory, federal officials said.
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