Tuesday, March 15, 2016

NIST Released the following Draft Special Publications (SP):

NIST Released the following Draft Special Publications (SP):
(1) Draft Special Publication (SP) 800-175B, Guideline for Using Cryptographic Standards in the Federal Government: Cryptographic Mechanisms
(2) Draft SP 800-46 Revision 2, Guide to Enterprise Telework, Remote Access, and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Security
(3) Draft SP 800-114 Revision 1, User's Guide to Telework and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Security
(4)
Draft SP 800-154, Guide to Data-Centric System Threat Modeling, and
(5) PRE-DRAFT SP 800-53 (Revision 5), Security and Privacy Controls for Federal Information Systems and Organizations

All 4 of these Draft and 1 PRE-Draft SPs are available for public comment and can be found on the NIST CSRC website.  See below for further details on these 5 draft documents.

 1. Draft SP 800-175B:
Information and links to Draft SP 800-175B can be found on the NIST CSRC Draft publications page. Below is the link to this Draft:
http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/PubsDrafts.html#800-175B

Deadline to submit comments: Friday, April 29, 2016

Email comments or questions about this draft document to:
SP800-175@nist.gov

2. Draft SP 800-46 Revision 2
Information and links to Draft SP 800-46 Revision 2 can be found on the NIST CSRC Draft publications page. There is also a comment template available to use to submit comments. Below is the link to this Draft: 
http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/PubsDrafts.html#800-46r2

Deadline to submit comments: April 15, 2016

Email comments or questions about this draft document to:
800-46comments@nist.gov

NIST Public Affairs Office issued a press release about this draft and also for Draft SP 800-114 Revision 1:
http://www.nist.gov/itl/csd/attackers-honing-in-on-teleworkers-how-organizations-can-secure-their-datata.cfm

3. Draft SP 800-114 Revision 1
Information and links to Draft SP 800-114 Revision 1 can be found on the NIST CSRC Draft publications page. There is also a comment template available to use to submit comments. Below is the link to this Draft: 
http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/PubsDrafts.html#800-114r1

Deadline to submit comments: April 15, 2016

Email comments or questions about this draft document to:
800-114comments@nist.gov

4. Draft SP 800-154
Information and links to Draft SP 800-154 can be found on the NIST CSRC Draft publications page. There is also a comment template available to use to submit comments. Below is the link to this Draft: 
http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/PubsDrafts.html#800-154

Deadline to submit comments: April 15, 2016

Email comments or questions about this draft document to:
800-154comments@nist.gov

5. (PRE-DRAFT) NIST SP 800-53 Revision 5

Full details can be found on the CSRC website:
http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/SMA/fisma/sp800-53r5_pre-draft.html

Please respond by April 1st 2016 to the call for comments to:
sec-cert@nist.gov

**Important Note:  There is no actual document for Revision 5 as yet.  To submit your comments / suggestions, you will need to refer to and reference from SP 800-53 Revision 4 to formulate your feedback to potentially help improve this document  to a Revision 5. Click the 1st link above to this Pre-Draft to learn all the details on this exercise.


Sunday, March 13, 2016

NTIA "Reviewing the IANA Transition Proposal"

"Over the past two decades, the Internet has touched the lives of billions of people around the globe in profound ways.  It has fueled economic growth, giving even the most remote villages the opportunity to sell their products in faraway lands.  It has fueled innovation, connecting mobile gadgets and household appliances.  And it has torn down barriers to speech, enabling diverse viewpoints to be heard across the political spectrum.
"The Obama Administration is committed to doing everything within our power to preserve and protect the open, free-flowing global Internet, which has revolutionized the world.  That’s why two years ago, we announced our intention to transition the U.S. government’s stewardship role of the Internet Domain Name System to the global multistakeholder community.
"Since our announcement, the Internet community – made up of businesses, technical experts, academics and civil society – has risen to the challenge by developing a transition plan that has achieved broad community support.  The community delivered that proposal to NTIA yesterday, marking the culmination of the largest multistakeholder process ever undertaken.  Stakeholders spent more than 26,000 working hours on the proposal, exchanged more than 33,000 messages on mailing lists, and held more than 600 meetings and calls.
"Why is this transition so important? The Internet has grown and thrived largely because of the multitude of folks who have come together around the globe through multistakeholder processes to solve technical and policy challenges on a consensus basis.  No government or intergovernmental entity could have accomplished what this community of experts has achieved in such a relatively short period of time.
. . . . ."

Monday, March 07, 2016

Consumer Tech Assoc Internships

http://www.cta.tech/About-CEA/Work-at-CEA/Career-Opportunities.aspx

"The Consumer Technology Association (CTA)™, formerly the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)®, is the trade association representing the $285 billion U.S. consumer technology industry. More than 2,200 companies – 80 percent are small businesses and startups; others are among the world’s best known brands – enjoy the benefits of CTA membership including policy advocacy, market research, technical education, industry promotion, standards development and the fostering of business and strategic relationships. CTA also owns and produces CES® – the world’s gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technology. Profits from CES are reinvested into CTA’s industry services."

Sunday, March 06, 2016

GAO Help Wanted Communications Analyst




Job Title:  Communications Analyst (Written)
Department:  Legislative Branch
Agency:  Government Accountability Office
Job Announcement Number:  GAO-16-PA-1001-02-MP

SALARY RANGE:
$80,700.00 to $119,776.00 / Per Year
OPEN PERIOD:
Wednesday, March 2, 2016 to Wednesday, March 16, 2016
SERIES & GRADE:
PT-1001-02
POSITION INFORMATION:
Full-time - Permanent
PROMOTION POTENTIAL:
02
DUTY LOCATIONS:
1 vacancy - District of Columbia, DC   View Map
WHO MAY APPLY:
Applicants with status (i.e., current permanent Federal employees in the competitive service and former Federal employees with reinstatement eligibility); those eligible for appointment under special hiring authorities ; and veterans' eligible under a VEOA Authority.
SECURITY CLEARANCE:
Public Trust - Background Investigation
SUPERVISORY STATUS:
No

JOB SUMMARY:

About the Agency

GAO's work is designed to address four common goals:

- to help the Congress address current and emerging challenges to the well-being and financial security of the American people;

- to help the Congress to respond to changing security threats and the challenges of global interdependence;

- to help transform the Federal government to address national challenges; and

- to maximize the value of GAO by enabling quality, timely service to Congress and by being a leading practices Federal agency. If you want to help form public policy, and you have exceptional analytical, communication, and collaboration skills, and can demonstrate high levels of initiative, then GAO is where you want to be! To learn more about GAO please visit us on the web at http://www.gao.gov/careers/index.html

This position is located in the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Office of Public Affairs (OPA). OPA is responsible for providing news media and the general public with accurate and timely information about GAO and its activities. The primary purpose of this position is to assist in the development and production of reports, correspondence, testimonies and other products. 

TRAVEL REQUIRED

  • Not Required

RELOCATION AUTHORIZED

  • No

KEY REQUIREMENTS

  • U.S. Citizen.
  • Completion of a satisfactory background investigation.
  • Selectee must be able to meet/maintain suitability & security requirement.
  • Completion of one year probationary period may be required.
  • Selective Service registration if you are a male born after Dec. 31, 1959.

DUTIES:

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  • Analyzes and writes draft products by recommending reorganization and revisions to improve coherence, flow, clarity and consistency; ensures consistency between themes and overall message and addresses gaps in logic or evidence to ensure that products meet GAO quality control standards.
  • Determines sufficiency of evidence to support statements made on social media.
  • Assists in writing and/or editing the content of internal and external written products, web sites, and oral presentations, including briefings, presentations, speeches, articles for publication and white papers.
  • Supports teams and offices in the production of reports, and other products including special publications which may involve innovative and atypical publishing requirements. Helps develop, write, and produce blog posts, social media posts (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, WatchBlog), video storyboards, podcast introductions and questions, and website text.

Thursday, March 03, 2016

FCC NOI: State of Video Competition

"The Federal Communications Commission today issued a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) to begin a conversation on the state of independent and diverse programming. The NOI solicits comment on the principal challenges independent video programmers face in gaining carriage of their content on both traditional and emerging distribution platforms. This action will help the Commission assess the current state of video programming diversity and determine whether further action is needed to promote independent programming sources."

Independent video programmers repeatedly have expressed concern that some practices of cable operators and other multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) limit their ability to reach viewers. To evaluate these concerns and assess the impact of these practices on the Commission’s goal of fostering a diverse, robust, and competitive programming marketplace, the NOI asks for comment on the general state of the marketplace for independent video programming and the challenges faced by all independent programmers – including new and emerging programmers – in attempting to launch or grow.

The NOI specifically invites comment on several issues that independent programmers and other interested parties have raised in other proceedings, including


  • Contractual provisions often contained in program carriage agreements, such as most favored nation (MFN) and alternative distribution method (ADM) clauses;
  • Distribution via over the top (OTT) platforms, and the costs and benefits of foregoing MVPD carriage to pursue OTT carriage;
  • Program bundling (i.e., the practice by some content companies of requiring MVPDs or other distributors to carry large bundles in order to gain access to marquee programming); 
  • Negotiation tactics alleged to be common among MVPDs that may impede the ability of independent programmers to obtain carriage; and
  • Claims that MVPDs discriminate against public, educational or government access (PEG) programming by failing to make PEG programming, and information about this programming, adequately available to subscribers. 

Lastly, the NOI asks about the Commission’s legal authority in this area and what role, if any, it should play in addressing obstacles that hinder consumers from accessing sources of independent and diverse programming.


PROMOTING THE AVAILABILITY OF DIVERSE AND INDEPENDENT SOURCES OF VIDEO PROGRAMMING. Notice of Inquiry seeks comment on the current state of programming diversity and the principal obstacles that independent programmers face in obtaining carriage on video distribution platforms. (Dkt No. 16-41 ). Action by: the Commission. Adopted: 02/18/2016 by NOI. (FCC No. 16-19). MB   FCC-16-19A1.docx  FCC-16-19A2.docx  FCC-16-19A3.docx  FCC-16-19A4.docx  FCC-16-19A5.docx FCC-16-19A6.docx  FCC-16-19A1.pdf  FCC-16-19A2.pdf  FCC-16-19A3.pdf  FCC-16-19A4.pdf  FCC-16-19A5.pdf  FCC-16-19A6.pdf

FCC EXAMINES STATE OF VIDEO PROGRAMMING DIVERSITY. Notice of Inquiry Asks for Comment on the Challenges Independent Programmers Face. News Release. (Dkt No 16-41 ). Adopted: 02/18/2016. MB   DOC-337789A1.docx  DOC-337789A1.pdf

Released:  03/01/2016.  COMMENT AND REPLY DEADLINES SET FOR INDEPENDENT PROGRAMMING NOI. (DA No.  16-226). (Dkt No 16-41 ). Comments Due:  03/30/2016. Reply Comments Due:  04/19/2016.  MB  https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-16-226A1.doc
https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-16-226A1.pdf

 Released:  03/01/2016.  MEDIA BUREAU ANNOUNCES PUBLIC WORKSHOP ON THE STATE OF THE VIDEO MARKETPLACE. (DA No.  16-228).  MB . Contact:  Raelynn Remy or Carlisha Myers at(202) 418-2120 https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-16-228A1.doc
https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-16-228A1.pdf