The White House recently released the 2012 Federal Information Security Management Act report. The report tracks agencies’ progress toward reaching the compliance targets set in 2002’s Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA). While the report documents some improvements and an increase in spending (up a $1 billion from 2011), it also highlights areas of weaknesses that help illuminate the current government cybersecurity ecosystem.

In this edition: Symantec CTO: Enterprise Security Still Needs Humans; As Data Centers Consolidate, Those Remaining Need to be More Efficient; Complexity is Cybersecurity’s Real Enemy; Cybersecurity Challenges in 2013; GitHub Hires First Government Liaison.

One common misconception is that by moving applications – or IT Services – to the cloud, one somehow absolves oneself from properly managing that platform and application. Cloud platforms do not make 40+ years of institutional IT knowledge and learnings suddenly obsolete. In Symantec’s recent State of Cloud Survey, many traditional core IT disciplines were highlighted as being problem areas for cloud adopters. Ironically, many of the issues cited, like rogue IT and backup complexity, are commonly encountered with on-premise IT, so it’s no surprise to see these issues replicated on cloud platforms.

The Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association's (AFCEA) DC chapter hosted the 4th Annual Cybersecurity Symposium on Friday February 22nd. Industry experts joined federal officials from cybersecurity agencies in interactive panels and keynote speeches. This was a joint update on the status of our nation’s cybersecurity efforts.

In this edition: Big Data Saves Money & Lives; FEMA Aims to Bring Geospatial Data into Cloud Environment; Symantec Finds Stuxnet Worm Traces from 2005; Connecticut Increases Power Grid’s Cybersecurity; Seven Actions for Governors on Cybersecurity.

We’re writing to you from the cybersecurity focused RSA Conference in San Francisco. Although we have two days left, we’ve already attended a lot of sessions and seen a lot of presentations you’ll want to know about. Next week we’ll do a full break down, including our key takeaways, for you. For now, here are a few links to articles summarizing interesting points made during the first couple days.

In this edition: Red Hat’s Big Data Strategy; NetApp’s FlashRay to Disrupt Enterprise Storage; Federal IT at “High Risk”; Open Data Success Requires Streamlining and Standardization; The Case for Paying for Open Source.

SolarWinds, a leading provider of powerful and affordable IT management software, recently released the results of their 2013 SolarWinds Security and Compliance Survey. Over 160 IT professionals were polled and their answers revealed fears about the present and future, on both cybersecurity and the influx of new technology.

Over the past few months our “situational awareness” with respect to cybersecurity has been enhanced by events including attacks on the New York Times, Twitter, and Facebook; the release of compelling evidence that much of our “CyberPain” can be traced to foreign, state-sponsored organizations; and the President’s timely Executive Order for Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity. Have we reached a tipping point?

Yesterday, before his fifth State of the Union address, President Obama signed a cybersecurity executive order. This is what you need to know about "Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity."