Author Archive

Aliya Sternstein

Senior Correspondent

Aliya Sternstein
Aliya Sternstein reports on cybersecurity and homeland security systems. She’s covered technology for more than a decade at such publications as National Journal's Technology Daily, Federal Computer Week and Forbes. Before joining Government Executive, Sternstein covered agriculture and derivatives trading for Congressional Quarterly. She’s been a guest commentator on C-SPAN, MSNBC, WAMU and Federal News Radio. Sternstein is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
Science & Tech

The NSA Is Using Bomb-Defusing Software to Grow the Next Generation of Analysts

This year’s codebreaking contest has a twist: the college teams must remotely locate and neutralize a roadside bomb.

Science & Tech

The Military’s Supermarket Goes Shopping for Better Encryption

Computer-generated passwords are stored beside personal and financial data. Security should be tighter than that, a report from the Defense Commissary Agency says.

Science & Tech

At Least One State Rejects Feds' Offer to Help Cybersecure Voting Machines

Some security experts say it wouldn't even take Russian government-backed hackers to manipulate actual votes in some of America's antiquated tallying systems.

Science & Tech

There’s a Big Loophole in the Pentagon’s Guide to Eavesdropping

The new rules reflect a shift in intel-gathering from phone-tapping to capturing conversations on the internet.

Science & Tech

Maybe the Secret Service Should Start Protecting Candidates’ Email As Well

Some private cyber investigators say it’s time the agency expand its reach beyond mere physical security.

Science & Tech

Obama Finally Decides Who’s In Charge When America Comes Under Cyberattack

For years, there’s been confusion in the private sector and among agencies about who does what when hackers hit the homeland. Not anymore.

Science & Tech

Pentagon Wants to Automate Social-Media Checks on Clearance Holders

The program would analyze public posts to help determine an employee's suitability for Defense Intelligence Agency classified work.

Science & Tech

Like Battlebots, Except These Robots Automatically Patch CyberSecurity Holes

Hacking teams and their algorithms will square off in a Las Vegas arena, in a contest sponsored by DARPA.

Science & Tech

White House Wants 3,500 ‘Critical’ New Cyber Jobs Filled In 5 Months

One of the administration’s short-term moves calls for agencies to more than double the number of new people hired in 'critical cybersecurity and IT positions’ since October 2015.

Science & Tech

Check Out The US Military's Sandbox of Silly-Putty That Predicts Disasters and War

Analysts are using what they call a ’tangible landscape' to predict the path of everything from forest fires and floods to movement of adversaries in war games.

Science & Tech

OPM Updates Data Breach Information Website

The Office of Personnel Management has updated its website on the historic 2015 background check cybersecurity breach to make it easier for those affected to access information about the incident.

Science & Tech

Virtual Reality Comes to US Military's Mapping Agency

U.S. officials abroad may soon be able to use their smartphone cameras to help swiftly reconstruct a bomb scene for eyes wrapped in Oculus 3-D headgear back in Washington.

Science & Tech

The Pentagon Is About to Launch A Big Database for Screening National Security Workers

The new DISS will merge two tools as part of the effort to reform the security clearance process.

Science & Tech

US Homeland Security Could Get Its Own Cyber Defense Agency

A panel of House lawmakers want to turn the existing National Protection and Programs Directorate into the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection Agency.

Science & Tech

US Spies Are Building Software to Spot Your Suspicious Behavior In Live Video

The program is called Deep Intermodal Video Analytics—or DIVA—and it seeks to locate shooters and terrorists before they strike.

Science & Tech

The Military Is Building an Employee Database to Predict Traitors

The “DoD Component Insider Threat Records System” is part of the U.S. government's response to the 2010 leaks of classified diplomatic cables by former Pfc. Chelsea Manning.

Science & Tech

The Pentagon Wants to ‘Fingerprint’ the World’s Hackers

By tracking their tools and behaviors, DARPA aims to solve one of the thorniest problems of cybersecurity: attribution.

Science & Tech

What’s Your ‘Insider Threat Score?’ It Could Determine If You Keep Your Clearance

The new National Background Investigation Bureau thinks screening people with classified access can determine their likelihood of going rogue.

Threats

Lawmakers Want the Pentagon's Red Team Hackers to Be More Like China and Iran

It's all part of a push to make training more realistic and much more frequent, year by year.