Government IT – Page 3 – Computer Security Articles

Utah county moves to expand mobile voting through blockchain

October 21, 2019 admin BlockChain, Emerging Technology, Government IT, privacy, Security

Credit to Author: Lucas Mearian| Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2019 03:00:00 -0700

Disabled voters in Utah County will be able to use their smartphones to vote in the November municipal election, an expansion of an earlier pilot test of the blockchain-based technology and anothert step toward allowing all voters to cast ballots with a mobile device.

The county, which has more than a half million residents, is the third in the U.S. to partner with Tusk Philanthropies, a non-profit focused on expanding mobile voting nationally. The latest pilot is a collaboration between the Utah County Elections Division, Tusk Philanthropies, the National Cybersecurity Center and Boston-based voting app developer Voatz.

To read this article in full, please click here

ComputerWorld Independent

Why blockchain-based voting could threaten democracy

August 12, 2019 admin BlockChain, Cloud Computing, Emerging Technology, Government IT, iPhone, Mobile, Security

Credit to Author: Lucas Mearian| Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2019 03:00:00 -0700

Public tests of blockchain-based mobile voting are growing.

Even as there’s been an uptick in pilot projects, security experts warn that blockchain-based mobile voting technology is innately insecure and potentially a danger to democracy through “wholesale fraud” or “manipulation tactics.”

The topic of election security has been in the spotlight recently after Congress held classified briefings on U.S. cyber infrastructure to identify and defend against threats to the election system, especially after Russian interference was uncovered in the 2016 Presidential election.

To read this article in full, please click here

ComputerWorld Independent

W. Va. to use blockchain-based mobile app for mid-term voting

September 18, 2018 admin BlockChain, Emerging Technology, Government IT, Security

Credit to Author: Lucas Mearian| Date: Tue, 18 Sep 2018 03:12:00 -0700

West Virginia this fall will let members of the military and their families deployed overseas to vote by smartphone or tablet using a blockchain-based app developed by a Salt Lake City start-up, Voatz.

The voters using the app would otherwise have to submit paper absentee ballots via mail or vote over a land line telephone.

The move means the state will become the first in the U.S. to use blockchain in a voting system in a general election.

After being elected in January 2017, West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner tasked IT staff to investigate mobile voting options for 8,000 West Virginian military members overseas. Warner, a retired U.S. Army officer with four children who are also all current or former Army officers, cited his own inability to vote when deployed in Afghanistan as one reason for his efforts.

To read this article in full, please click here

ComputerWorld Independent

China once again cracks down on cryptocurrencies, news outlets

August 23, 2018 admin BlockChain, Data Center, Emerging Technology, Fintech, Government IT, Security

Credit to Author: Lucas Mearian| Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2018 10:06:00 -0700

In an ongoing campaign to tamp down the growth of once-flourishing cryptocurrencies it sees as a threat, the Chinese government has ordered more than a half dozen online news outlets to shut down and banned physical venues from hosting crypto-related events.

On Tuesday, eight blockchain and cryptocurrency-focused media outlets were banned on WeChat, China’s most influential instant communication and mobile payment app, for allegedly violating new government regulations forbidding the publishing of information related to initial coin offerings (ICOs) or cryptocurrency trading speculation.

To read this article in full, please click here

ComputerWorld Independent

Supreme Court: Your digital location is protected by the Constitution

June 22, 2018 admin Government IT, Mobile, privacy, Regulation, Security, smartphones

Credit to Author: Lucas Mearian| Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2018 12:15:00 -0700

The U.S. Supreme Court today ruled that access to historical cell-site records of a person’s location based on their mobile phone will require law enforcement to obtain a warrant before searching a person’s historical location records.

This is the first time the high court has ruled on whether a phone subscriber has a legitimate expectation of privacy regarding a telephone company’s records of their cellphone location data, according to Aloke Chakravarty, a partner in the Denver-based law firm of Snell & Wilmer.

“This is a landmark case for privacy, and how the court will deal with emerging technologies going forward,” Chakravarty said via email. “It creates a new lens through which to view a government’s ability to obtain third-party records where a criminal defendant neither possesses the records, doesn’t have a property interest in them, may not even know they exist, and he cannot personally even access them.”

To read this article in full, please click here

ComputerWorld Independent

Feds move to secure mobile devices with machine learning, biometrics

March 6, 2018 admin Government IT, MDM, Mobile, Security

Credit to Author: Lucas Mearian| Date: Tue, 06 Mar 2018 03:24:00 -0800

Amid the growing use of mobile devices for work by federal employees, U.S. defense and intelligence agencies are fast adopting biometrics and other alternative ways of computers, smartphones and tablets, according to a new report.

More than 90% of federal agency IT officials in an online survey said their organizations provide secure mobile access for work-issued devices, but less than 20% support workers’ personal devices to access most agency systems. Forty percent of those same officials voiced concern about securing personal devices, according to the online survey of federal government IT and cybersecurity officials.

To read this article in full, please click here

ComputerWorld Independent

U.S. Cyber Command gains status | Salted Hash Ep 1, Pt 2

September 7, 2017 admin Application Security, Cyber crime, cyberattacks, Government IT, Security

Reporters Steve Ragan and Fahmida Rashid discuss the implications of the U.S. Cyber Command's recent elevation in status, putting it on the same level as the military’s other functional combatant commands.