GAO weighs in on need for consistent data classification

In the wake of the recent release of the Report and Recommendations of the Presidential Task Force on Controlled Unclassified Information, the Government Accountability Office on December 15 released a report on Managing Sensitive Information that…

3 major 2009 privacy trends to watch next year

As the result of a highly unscientific review of big developments on the privacy front in 2009, here are 3 major trends from the past year that we predict will continue to draw attention in 2010….

New proposed FISMA metrics suggest key technology recommendations

Earlier this month, the National Institute of Standards and Technology issued a request for comments on a draft set of proposed security metrics that OMB is considering using for agencies’ annual reporting as required under the…

Information sharing imperatives may trump security

While the technical infrastructure required to support information sharing don’t really change from context to context, security and privacy requirements applying to senders and receivers of information do vary quite a bit depending on the domain….

Supreme Court case to consider limits on workplace privacy

The Supreme Court last week agreed to hear arguments in a case on employee privacy and the extent to which government agencies can monitor the content of personal communications made by their employees while using government-owned…

Is HIPAA enforcement getting any stronger?

Following the disclosure in November that employees at University Medical Center of Southern Nevada (UMC) have been sending patient information outside the hospital to personal injury lawyers and other outsiders, the FBI opened a criminal investigation…

The need to encrypt wireless data is a lesson still being learned

The Wall Street Journal published an article on December 17 reporting that the U.S. military has discovered that wireless video feeds from unmanned Predator drones operating in Iraq are often intercepted by enemy insurgents. The ability…