Computing Research Policy Blog


Posts categorized under: Security

Catching Up: Update on PITAC Cyber Security Efforts


This article I spotted today in Government Computer News on former Director of DHS’ National Cybersecurity Division Amit Yoran’s thoughts about DHS’ niche in federal cybersecurity efforts reminded me that I hadn’t provided an update on what I thought was a very interesting meeting of PITAC’s Subcommittee on Cybersecurity R&D a week ago last Friday. […]

House Leadership Wants Cyber Security Back In White House?


The AP reports today (via USA Today) that the House Republican leadership will propose moving the cyber security offices of the Department of Homeland Security back to the White House as part of the House version of the intelligence reorganization. According to the article, the change reflects “frustration among some Republican lawmakers about what they […]

ITAA Accuses Security Researchers of Waging “Religious War” in Opposing E-voting Systems


Computerworld has an article today with quotes from ITAA’s Harris Miller complaining that IT security researchers are opposing e-voting systems because they’re pushing a political agenda on behalf of the open-source software community. Some choice quotes: “It’s not about voting machines. It’s a religious war about open-source software vs. proprietary software,” Miller said in an […]

CAPPS II Cancelled


From Declan McCullagh’s Politech list: Plan to collect flier data canceled; Color-coded system seen as privacy threat from USA Today Update from Andy Bernat: “Don’t believe everything you read in USA Today. From the Washington Post Friday morning: New Airline Screening System Postponed Controversy Over Privacy Leads to CAPPS II Paring, Delay Until After Election […]

Monoculture Debate at USENIX


Ed Felten’s got a rundown of the Dan Geer vs. Scott Charney debate at the USENIX conference on whether operating-system monoculture is a threat to computer security. Some interesting points on both sides (and from Felten).

Insecure and Unaware


The Chronicle of Higher Education has a story (available for another 5 days or so) on computer security at the nation’s universities, which concludes that security lapses are common. Here are some choice quotes: “What I’ve seen is a top-to-bottom lack of awareness of issues related to security,” says Eugene H. Spafford, a computer-science professor […]