Ellen Messmer

The federal government's desktop security mandate kicks in this week, requiring government agencies to support standard secure configurations for Windows XP and Vista operating systems. Known as the Federal Desktop Core Configuration standard, the FDCC will require agencies to apply and maintain standard security settings on all desktops and laptops.

A secure e-mail specification for future use has been selected by The Transglobal Secure Collaboration Program, a shared effort between British and American defence agencies and aerospace partners to devise technologies for secure electronic collaboration.

A recent survey found that IT workers tend to have free-market principles and independent attitudes about political parties on the subject of U.S. politics and the government's role in regulation.

Despite added costs and complexity, business and government sectors are becoming wedded to data encryption, even though at times it's like an arranged marriage driven by regulatory compliance and fear of data-breach fiascos.

The firm plans to support the CryptoStor KeyVault and CryptoStor Tape products in order to broaden nCipher's product portfolio and customer base

Computer systems at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (http://www.ornl.gov/), an American science and technology lab under the U.S. Department of Energy, has reportedly suffered a cyber attack last week and there were indications other institutions may have also been targets.

In a recent survey of 83 corporate IT managers, 28 acknowledged having had to cope with a data breach, and half of those respondents reported significant related costs