Let’s face it; today’s kids are more connected than ever before.  In fact, according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, children between the ages of 8-18 spend more than 7 ½ hours a day with those electronic devices, not including the hour and a half they spend texting, or the small amount (30 min) they actually talk on the cell phone.

And these kids are truly digital natives. To them, online access is ubiquitous and expected.  Internet access is everywhere and like oxygen  -- they rely on it, crave it. Whether they tweet, text, update statuses, post pictures, chat and video chat, kids are using their devices to connect, to explore, to share, and yes, to learn.  In fact, a new study has shown that users of social networking sites (SNS) such as Twitter and Facebook, are better off socially, are more trusting of other people and are more civically engaged. Even in classrooms today, teachers have found that using technology has increased their student’s motivation, provided new outlets for student’s creativity, and helped the teachers become better organized. (Read more)

Read More »

Tags: cyber security, cyber security month, cybersecurity, education, safety, social media, Stop. Think. Connect

On June 1-2, I will be participating in the EastWest Institute’s (EWI) second Worldwide Cybersecurity Summit at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Center in London, and I’m very excited about the prospects for this event.

EastWest Institute is a global, action-oriented, “think-and-do” tank founded in 1980. Its goals are to mobilize leading business and government leaders to address cross-border cybersecurity challenges; set new models for private-public-sector leadership in addressing high-priority security threats and vulnerabilities; and to make advances on the most pressing issues in global management of critical information infrastructure with breakthrough international collaboration.

I’m particularly energized about this year’s session, as I anticipate we will continue and expand upon the dialogue initiated at last year’s inaugural summit in Dallas. I’m proud to have participated in that event, along with other government, business, and civil society leaders from around the world who came together to collaborate on ways to assure the security of the world’s digital infrastructure.

Read More »

Tags: cybersecurity, security

Cyberspace has emerged as the “fourth commons” after sea, air, and space in the defense world, and a broad variety of private and public networks make up the critical infrastructure that enables governments to provide essential services. The network has become both a platform for innovation and a mission-critical resource for the civilian, defense, and intelligence operations of governments. - Cisco’s Don Proctor, SVP -- Office of the CEO

The growing number of attacks on our cyber networks has become, in President Obama’s words, “one of the most serious economic and national security threats our nation faces.”  Addressing these issues means working across the government, partnering with the private sector, and empowering the general public to create a safe, secure, and resilient cyber environment, and promote cybersecurity knowledge and innovation.

If you are, or want to be part of this effort, please join us at the National Town Hall on Cybersecurity, a provocative on-line discussion, May 24^th at 1:00 PM ET.

It’s free, and you can register here.

Tags: cybersecurity, Don Proctor, federal, pollock, public sector, town hall

Welcome to our government blog!  I hope you will become an active participant and visitor to this community.  Each week, we will explore various topics that are top of mind in government.  I encourage you to share, comment, and probe so that we can have genuine discussions about what is happening in this ever-changing industry.

The experts on our team, who bring together decades of experience in advanced technologies and government know-how,  will be blogging about cloud, cybersecurity, security, teleworking, innovations in government , and much more.  If you have a topic of interest related to government and technology that you would like to discuss, please comment on this post. We’d love to hear from you!

Tags: cloud, cybersecurity, federal, government, government transformation, public sector, security, state and local

So, I got locked out of my Cisco “everything” account recently. At first I thought it was just my home router acting up, but after a couple days I called IT for help, and they asked me to reset my router, and my modem, and then when that was done they informed me that maybe my password had expired.

Long way of getting to the story. I hate when my password expires. We have pretty stringent rules about passwords here at Cisco. I appreciate that. I just don’t want to change my password. You see I have (guessing) at least 20 sites that I use, all have different password requirements. Some have unique requirements for User Names too.

So I have figured out that from now on, the day that I change my company password I am changing all of my other account passwords too. At least within Cisco they synchronize all of the passwords. But I still have all my individual accounts, and I’m quite sure they sit there and watch, here comes that idiot, requesting a new password. Why can’t these people remember their password, they likely wonder while they smirk.

To some degree it is a matter of how often you go to the website, I suppose. Read More »

Tags: automation, Borderless Networks, collaboration, cybersecurity, Factory, Industrial Automation, Industry, machine, machine builders, Manufacturing, mobility, operational excellence, password, R&D, Research and Development, security, Security Thought Leadership, shop flloor, strong passwords, supply chain