charl...@mcn.org (Charles Mills) writes: > "... the OPM is facing a huge problem with modernizing its security measures > and tactics because of one acronym: COBOL. The programming language that > rose to prominence in the 1960s is rampant throughout the OPM and with the > advanced persistent threats federal agencies are experiencing, it's a > significant vulnerability." > > -- http://fedtechmagazine.com/OPMhack
somewhat obfuscation and misdirection away from the massive uptick in outsourcing that occured last decade (even some slightly related to IBM). A big part of the uptick in outsourcing was enormous lobbying done by major private-equity firms on behalf of their acquisitions. "OPM Contractor's Parent Firm Has a Troubled History" https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/06/24/opm-contractor-veritas/ when CEO leaves IBM, he goes on to head up major private equity firm http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1037893592918171788 that does LBO of company that employes Snowden. http://www.investingdaily.com/17693/spies-like-us/ Private contractors like Booz Allen now reportedly garner 70 percent of the annual $80 billion intelligence budget and supply more than half of the available manpower. They're not going away any time soon unless the CIA and NSA want to start over and with some off-the-shelf laptops, networked by the Geek Squad from Best Buy. Security clearances used to be a government function too, but are now a profit center for various private-equity subsidiaries. ... snip ... Private equity tends to do everything possible to loot the companies they acquire (the industry had gotten such a bad name during the S&L crisis, that they change their name to "private-equity"). In the case of the "subsidiaries" doing outsourced security clearance checks, they were filling out the paperwork, but not actually doing the checks they were being paid for. AMEX had been in competition with KKR for the LBO of RJR and KKR wins. KKR runs into problems with RJR and hires away the president of AMEX to turn it around. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbarians_at_the_Gate:_The_Fall_of_RJR_Nabisco IBM has gone into the red and was being re-orged into the 13 "baby blues" in preparation of breakup; the board then hires away the former president of AMEX to resurrect the company and reverse the breakup ... using some of the same measures used at RJR http://www.ibmemployee.com/RetirementHeist.shtml there has been long standing revolving door between gov and beltway bandits and/or wallstreet ... example is recent CIA director resigned in disgrace including slap on the wrist for leaking classified documents ... joins KKR. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/05/30/k-k-r-hires-petraeus/ -- virtualization experience starting Jan1968, online at home since Mar1970 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
