Foreward: A Call For Public-Private Action

By Howard Schmidt, As a large procurer of commercial IT products, the government has a stake in the security of hardware and software companies. Enhanced cooperation between the public and private sectors on security can only create an environment where IT services are cheaper and more secure.

1| Introduction: Security Is In Your Hands

By William Pelgrin, The Black Book on Government Security was written to help managers and information security professionals understand the key cyber security challenges faced by all levels of government. This book will explore the issues involved and provide concrete guidelines.

2| Implementing A National Cyber Security Strategy

By Andy Purdy, In the face of growing threats to its cyber assets, America requires the implementation of a comprehensive plan to protect its vital and most sensitive data. The federal government is working with public and private stakeholders to implement priorities for securing the country's cyberspace.

3| Raising Information Exchange To A Smarter Level

By Gregory N. Akers, To ensure proactive cyber security, decision makers require actionable information delivered in real time. Meeting this goal requires a paradigm shift in how information is processed. Technology can provide the "intelligent information exchange" that today's government manager demands.

4| Security Through Consistency

By Mary Ann Davidson, Technological consistency, even more than rigid standards, is a crucial component to enhancing cyber security. Here's how the computer industry can leverage the power of the federal government to foster IT consistency - and in the process, improve software security.

5| Standards: The Next Big Steps

By S. Rao Vasireddy, Standards, of course, are the "Holy Grail" of any government IT system, but achieving them is no simple matter. That's especially true in the realm of data security, where a cohesive and comprehensively integrated architecture is needed to deploy end-to-end network solutions.

6| An Integrated Approach To Identity Management

By Doron Cohen and Robert Worner, A proliferation of passwords, ID cards and PIN numbers is creating "silos" of IT inefficiency. An emerging solution to disparate identity procedures is Federated Identity Management (FIM), a set of technologies and standards that make identity information meaningful across different domains.

7| Unlocking The Doors To Identity Management

By Dr. Alastair MacWillson and Eric Stange , To determine the identity of those seeking access beyond the IT perimeter, governments must contend with the complexity inherent in identifying individuals. To make the right decisions, managers must match identity to dispersed but relevant information - while protecting privacy.

8| The Simpler Path To Security

By Jim Porell, New pressures are compelling federal agencies to simplify their IT systems, enhance processes and cut costs. For an organization to realize the benefits of infrastructure simplification, it must consolidate applications to allow them to reside on a smaller number of servers.

9| The "Service Way" To Security

By Paul Patrick, To enhance security and prevent "stove piping" of systems, agencies are turning to Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), a collaborative system for linking resources on demand, with a common infrastructure based on open standards. SOA integrates system functions to provide managers with actionable data.