Science & Technology

With potentially millions of Virginians victimized by the recent cyber-attack against federal employees, state lawmakers want to expedite the formation of public-private collaborations that would stimulate research and development in cybers-ecurity. 

Now a Joint Commission on Technology and Science panel agrees—and wants to help bring the best minds in the field together.  Both higher education institutions and companies are willing and eager to make that happen.

Virginia is making a move to embrace the future of train travel as plans for faster passenger rail service between Richmond and DC are considered... and Google's self-driving cars will soon be seen among the hordes of vehicles packing the roads in Northern Virginia.

Those are among the most read stories over the past week on the Virginia Public Access Project's VA News link at vpap.org

In light of the recent data breach at Anthem and what some believe will be an inevitable cyberattack by sophisticated terrorists, Governor McAuliffe is imploring tech-savvy business leaders and IT professionals to get aggressive.  He’s asking them to take additional steps to identify, assess, and defeat threats-as well as to help attract cybersecurity entities to the Commonwealth.

Organizers of this week’s TEDxRVA event are hoping for a packed house at Richmond’s CenterStage Carpenter Theatre Friday, April 10. The event features 22 speakers, all in less than an eight-hour day, exploring the rare and the extraordinary.

Ticket for the event are $50.  Get more information here.

The battle against cyber attacks is being joined in Virginia.  Political leaders are looking for new weapons to fight the wave of breaches and hack attacks that seem to be ramping up.

Until recently, having a so-called ‘fire wall’ on your computer or network was the way to keep your data safe; but, clearly, not any more.