CA just wrapped up its first IT Government Expo in Washington D.C. yesterday.  IT Government Expo was a mini-CA World with content designed for U.S. government customers and systems integrators that serve that market. Attendance was excellent (exceeding our initial expectations), and the cyber security track (which I was track leader for) had the highest number of registrants of any of the other tracks.  The high interest in the cyber security content (most sessions were standing room only) provided confirmation that cyber security is of high priority for the Federal government, whether it relates to securing classified information, delivering e-government services securely to citizens, or defending against cyber terrorism.

During IT Government Expo, we released a study that we sponsored with Ponemon Research on "Cyber Security Mega Trends" in the Federal government.  This research reveals interesting information, some of which mimics the private sector experience.  One of the challenges that interested me in the report is the inherent conflict between the risk of unsecured networks and data vs. the benefits of increased data sharing and collaboration.   While this risk/reward problem has existed for decades, the problem is especially acute in the public sector. The survey data supports this by noting a very high concern among Federal IT executives on the risk of unstructured data - even though this data can also assist in cross-agency collaborative efforts.  There is no simple fix, so this issue is worth monitoring moving ahead, both in the public and private sectors.

To those who attended CA IT Government Expo, thanks for your active participation and enthusiasm.  I look forward to connecting with you again at CA World next spring!