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We participated in a great onsite meeting at FOSE 2013 with top notch leaders in the information technology community. This guest post from CTOVision recaps the insights and discussions on the importance of cybersecurity, cloud technology and social media. The original posting of this blog can be found here.

1105 FOSE Meet-Up: Cybersecurity, Cloud Technology and Social Media

Guest post from CTO Vision

1105 Media Group, organizers of the FOSE and GovSec Conferences & Expos, hosted an FOSE 2013 Blogger & Speaker Meet-up on Wednesday, May 15 at FOSE.

I always look forward to the blogger meetups at events, because they offer a chance to get some visibility on other tracks or key points you’ve missed. It was a varied group. We had folks from all walks of life who work in the cyber realm, and the breadth of experience added to the conversation.

This meet-up included influencers, Ajay Budhraja, Chief Technology Officer, EOIR at the United States Department of Justice, Gadi Ben-Yehuda, Director of Innovation and Social Media for IBM Center for The Business of Government, Andrew Scott, Social Media Coordinator at Carahsoft Technology Corp. Paul DeSoza, CEO of CSFI, Sayngeun Phouamkha, VP of Business Development at CSFI. Lindy Kyzer, Editor at Clearance Jobs, Erik Johnson from DC Gov and Michael Russell .

Right now the federal government is going through an incredible IT transformation. They are moving from IT as a way of getting work done, into IT as a strategic asset for business. The federal government is adopting today’s trends; mobility, agility and open APIs that are opening up federal IT and making it more functional and delivering more to our citizens.

Much of the talk focused on open data and data access. We talked extensively about the increasing amount of noise in the ether. From the deluge of tweets, to the host of open data released by governments it is becoming harder and harder to identify the signal. Paul De Souza of CSFI has created an open-source intelligence operating center for the CSFI that uses Silobreaker to create their own operating picture, and to create their own intelligence products. They also use the TVEyes capability to monitor TV streams from their smart devices, increasing their awareness of what discussions are occurring in the world.

We also discussed how data is driving government, and see OSINT and other capabilities de-silo’ing the data. However, this led into the conversation of how the government can lessen the impact of social media providing valuable OSINT to our adversaries. Ajay brought up the importance of cloud data, policy and accessibility. While some organizations have social media policies, a government-wide policy that clearly states social media policies could be beneficial. parental blocker Limited access to social media could also benefit the government and limit exposure. While social media can be a great asset to the citizenship of the country, we must be cautious that it does not endanger those citizens.

To access the full program agenda and find out about FOSE 2014, visit www.fose.com.

About CTOVision.com
At CTOvision.com we write about technology, with a focus on technology of relevance to enterprise technologists. The blog was founded by Bob Gourley, CTO of Crucial Point, a high tech consultancy. We also publish technology concepts and evals at our sister site CTOlabs.com.

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We’ve launched a new blog and a new Facebook page this week – and now I’m happy to bring back another round of “What We’re Reading”! Here are a few of the interesting and informative items we’ve found this week, cherry-picked to share with you:

Thinking About Social Media? 10 Things to Keep Top of Mind from Social Media Today – this post from Tuvel Managing Director Mitch Arnowitz provides a checklist of fundamentals to keep in mind when implementing social media into your marketing plan.
Advertising to Facebook Fans Improves Conversion Rates [New Data] from the HubSpot Blog – we’re currently in the midst of a Facebook community-building campaign for one of our new clients, and this new information struck me as interesting, especially given that it’s common sense that advertising to your own “fans” (whether on Facebook, through email, or other marketing channels) will always give you more bang for your buck.
U.S. Government Use of Social Media [timeline] – this was provided to me in response to a question I posted on GovLoop, and I thought it was so comprehensive and fascinating I had to share it here.

9 Reasons Your Company Should Use Brand Advocates from Social Media Examiner – this is new research that demonstrates why brand advocates are important for companies pay attention to and nurture, and what motivates those advocates’ behavior.
RTR No Sales Approach to Social Media Success from Middle Child New Media Blog – whether you’re in sales, marketing, PR, or any other role where you use social media to engage customers and stakeholders, this approach will help you realize that social media isn’t about selling, it’s about building relationships.
5 Creative Location-Based Marketing Campaigns from OPEN Forum – a little inspiration from small businesses utilizing location-based platforms successfully to drive customers and social engagement.

Finally, here’s a video of an interview with AOL CEO Steve Case from waaaaay back in 1995, where he describes the new medium of “cyberspace” as “participatory” – less one-way broadcast, more two-way interactivity.

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