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Federal cybersecurity workers might not be far from being able to access top-notch training directly from their computer desktops.

Robert Hollingsworth, director of the security engineering and computer security training division at the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security Training Center, told Wired Workplace on Thursday that State and the Homeland Security Department have begun training federal cyber pros using virtual worlds, where each user has an avatar and is walked through different cyber scenarios.

The virtual worlds courses are part of the Federal Cybersecurity Training Event, or FedCTE, a joint program between State and DHS. The program started in 2008, after the Obama administration's Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative identified a need for addressing cybersecurity training and education within the federal workforce. FedCTE courses also were developed using the specific cybersecurity roles identified by the National Initiative on Cybersecurity Education, Hollingsworth said.

Thus far, the virtual worlds program has trained more than 243 students from 68 agencies on cybersecurity topics like cyber protection, response and mitigation, Hollingsworth said. "The demand is going through the roof," he said. "It's a way for these remote programs to address these cybersecurity areas and be continually modified as vulnerabilities are discovered and new security practices are identified. Even previously trained people can address new concerns in a timely fashion."

Still, Hollingsworth noted that one challenge for government is simply defining the roles, requirements and job tasks needed for federal cybersecurity work. But a goal of the virtual training is to help overcome that hurdle, he added. "We're finding there are a lot of roles and responsibilities that may be unique to a department, and we can go in and customize those portions and touch those individual job descriptions and tweak it," he said. "That would be too hard to do in a real classroom every time, but it's not too hard to adjust these virtual modules."

Going forward, Hollingsworth said the program will continue to expand to include more cybersecurity workers, particularly as it gets more popular through word of mouth. "It's in the ground floor now, but we feel it's going to be mainstreamed and that this form of training will become more of a normal activity for federal security workers," he said. "It will be on their desktops at some point and they can train as needed. It's another tool in their toolbox."

Mobile computing is becoming more common for federal employees, and many agencies are beginning to allow employees to use their own personal devices for work, according to a new survey.

The survey of 414 federal employees and IT staff by CDW Government found that more than half of federal employees use at least one mobile device at work. Nearly all (99 percent) of IT professionals have deployed mobile devices to agency employees.

In addtion, 62 percent of agencies are allowing employees to BYOD, or bring your own device, to work. Forty-four percent of federal employees using a mobile device are using their own. That strategy appears to be working, as nearly all federal employees who use a mobile device for work believe it makes them more productive, and the majority say increased mobility will improve citizen service, the survey found.

"Mobility is the 'new normal' for Federal employees," said Bob Kirby, vice president of federal government for CDW-G. "Employees increasingly expect to be able to work anywhere and at any time. Agencies responded first by deploying mobile devices, and now they are enabling use of personal devices."

Kirby added that the BYOD trend is likely to continue, particularly following the Obama administration's November 2011 executive order asking agencies to limit the number of IT devices they issue to employees to reduce costs.

Meanwhile, agencies are providing a good security baseline for mobile devices, with the majority establishing data security policies (85 percent) and requiring data security training for mobile device users (84 percent), the study found. Other areas of security could be improved, however, as fewer IT professionals said their agency protects mobile devices with multi-factor authentication (54 percent), remote lock and wipe (45 percent) and data loss prevention software (39 percent), CDW-G found.

Are you using your own personal device for work? What factors are behind this trend at your agency?

Next month marks Telework Exchange's annual Telework Week event, and many agencies are planning to use the event to test their business continuity plans.

Cindy Auten, general manager of Telework Exchange, told Wired Workplace on Friday that more than 9,000 federal employees have pledged to telework during the annual Telework Week, which runs March 5-9.

"Agencies are really getting behind this program to test their business continuity and really understand why it's important to do drills using Telework Week to get more people involved," Auten said. "And I think that this will be a good test for agencies to see how prepared they are without having the next Snowmageddon."

Last year, the Telework Week program had nearly 40,000 pledges, with more than 86 percent of those pledges coming from federal workers. Those workers collectively saved $2.7 million in commuting costs and saved employees an average two hours from their commutes for each day teleworked, according to Telework Exchange estimates.

Auten said a report on the results of this year's Telework Week would be released at the organization's town hall meeting in May. "It will be interesting to compare year over year and see how well agencies have done and how prepared they were," she said. "I think we will see some really good movement between the two years."

Still, Auten said one major challenge for agencies going forward -- particularly for those agencies that recently kicked off their telework programs as a result of the 2010 Telework Enhancement Act -- is quantifying telework's return on investment. Some agencies like the Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security departments -- which were called out in a recent letter to Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry for having high numbers of positions deemed ineligible for telework - may have a difficult time beginning to track and provide accurate data, she said.

"Capturing the data is really important and not just necessarily whose teleworking and the frequency but also how telework is coming back to meet the agency mission," Auten said. "Agencies have to quantify the savings, and developing that telework ROI model is going to be very critical."

Going forward, Auten said a major trend for 2012 will be a move to enterprisewide tech solutions for both teleworkers and non-teleworkers, which is part of Federal CIO Steven Van Roekel's new mobility strategy to make agencies more agile and flexible. "The goal is for one enterprisewide solution that can enable the mobile workforce," she said. "So if you use collaborative tools for teleworkers, the people in the office are using the same tools."

Have you made your pledge for this year's Telework Week? If not, click here.

A major hurdle for federal agencies in implementing a 2010 telework law is simply making the determination on what roles and jobs can be completed while working remotely, according to a recent survey by the Congressional Research Service.

The survey, which was requested by Reps. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., and John Sarbanes, D-Md., found that even while some agencies have a high percentage of desk jobs, many have a fairly prohibitive telework eligibility and low rates of telework participation. The Veterans Affairs Department, for example, has classified 87.5 percent of employees as ineligible to telework, and failed to provide CRS any detailed information to justify having such high rates of ineligibility. The Homeland Security Department also has classified 70 percent of employees as ineligible for remote work, with an average of just 0.016 percent of employees teleworking during the average pay period, CRS found.

"This abysmal telework performance in inexplicable in light of the large number of DHS office positions and could prove to be a threat to national security if DHS is unable to implement a continuity of operations plan because its employees are unaccustomed to telework," Connolly and Sarbanes stated in a letter to OPM Director John Berry.

Under the 2010 Telework Enhancement Act, agencies were required to establish a policy on working outside the office, identify eligible employees and inform them of the option. The law also required agencies to name an official to manage telework programs, and incorporate the policy into plans for continuing essential services during natural disasters or other emergencies.

Meanwhile, other agencies, like the Health and Human Services and Education departments, have classified a high percentage of employees as eligible to telework, but only a small percentage of total work hours are completed remotely, CRS noted. "This suggests that while some agencies are doing good work to improve eligibility, many also need to ensure that telework is routine," the letter states.

Still, some agencies stood out as leaders on federal telework, most notably the Agriculture Department, the Patent and Trademark Office and the General Services Administration, CRS found. USDA has high telework participation, despite the fact that many employees spend a lot of time in the field, and PTO employees completed 40 percent of all work hours under a telework arrangement, the survey found.

Agencies also reported difficulty in quantifying energy and real estate cost savings from telework, and CRS recommended looking to agencies like PTO and GSA for methods of quantifying cost savings. "Considering that PTO has saved $4.36 million in real estate costs by avoiding construction of individual offices for 3,464 employees, savings governmentwide could be substantial and should be quantified," the letter states.

The Transportation, Justice and Housing and Urban Development departments did not respond to CRS's survey.

The Office of Personnel Management has created a telework training package designed to help agencies meet the mandates of a 2010 telework law.

In a letter sent last week to chief human capital officers, OPM Director John Berry said that agencies can now access new employee and manager telework training modules at telework.gov. Agencies that already use their own learning management systems will now have the capability to download the training at no cost. "This option will allow agencies to track the use and completion of the training," Berry wrote.

The 2010 Telework Enhancement Act requires federal agencies provide interactive telework training for employees who are eligible and interested in participating in telework and for their managers. The law requires such training to be completed before employees and/or managers sign a written telework agreement.

Federal employees started off this week with their first snow-related delay of the winter season, and many feds are still concerned about what winter weather will mean for their commute and their ability to perform their jobs. The good news is that many government offices have adopted teleworking policies, according to a new report by Microsoft.

The report, which is based on a survey of 250 employees, 73 percent of which worked in government, found that 67 percent of respondents work remotely at least some of the time. Surprisingly, however, only 33 percent of teleworkers indicated that their job satisfaction and productivity have increased since telework adoption.

Managers also are buying into the concept of telework, with 47 percent of respondents saying their boss was enthusiastic about telework, while 25 percent said their boss was skeptical but willing to give telework a chance.

In a time where the potential for budget cuts is forcing agencies to do more with less, respondents also indicated that telework could help achieve that goal. After streamlining the acquisition process (31 percent) and reducing travel budgets (25 percent), respondents indicated that implementing telework policies (22 percent) could help agencies save money.

Of respondents who do not telework, half reported that they would strongly consider a career move if another comparable opportunity arose that included a more robust telework policy, the survey found.

Still, many government workers face challenges in working remotely, the survey found. Approximately 30 percent of respondents said that telework gets in the way of team collaboration and that working effectively requires face time. Respondents also noted concern with not knowing how to best communicate with colleagues, difficulty accessing key work documents and difficulty in scheduling meetings.

At the same time, respondents indicated that embracing new technologies, like chat/instant messaging (27 percent), video conferencing (29 percent) and collaborative document editing (32 percent), can help to close the collaboration gap.

"Although these tools didn't unseat email and the telephone as preferred communications methods," the report states, "it's clear that there is significant demand in the government sector for collaboration capabilities that can be accessed from any location and any device."

And finally, teleworkers also indicated that they are taking advantage of another perk of working from home -- comfort. Nearly three quarters of respondents said they prefer a personal dress code of jeans and t-shirts, sweats or pajamas.

Are you eager to share your thoughts about your boss, your pay and benefits, telework or the use of technology and collaboration tools, with your agency leadership?

Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry announced Friday that the 2012 Federal Employee Viewpoint survey will, for the first time, be open to all permanent, full and part-time employees. This means more than 1.8 million federal employees will be invited to give their opinions, more than triple the number of employees surveyed in 2011.

"While a governmentwide census will not be conducted every year, having large numbers of respondents will allow agencies the opportunity to analyze results and develop action plans at lower levels in the organization this year."

The annual survey assesses governmentwide worker satisfaction and includes results based on individual agencies, demographics and private sector comparisons. The data also are analyzed by the Partnership for Public Services in their "Best Places to Work in the Federal Government" report.

Administration of the next employee survey is scheduled to begin in April, and Berry encouraged agency chief human capital officers to champion the 2012 survey to "ensure that your employees feel their voices are heard and their opinions will drive continuing improvement in the culture in their agency."

Salaries for government IT workers were slightly below the national average in 2011, giving agencies less of a competitive edge when it comes to recruiting top notch IT skills, according to a new survey by Dice.

Dice's 2011-2012 salary survey found that salaries for government tech workers averaged $79,605 in 2011, slightly below the average salary for tech workers in all industries, which came in at $81,327.

Government and private sector IT professionals in the aerospace and defense industries, however, fared far better than average when it came to pay in 2011. Those workers earned an average of $88,232 in 2011, the survey found.

"Defense spending is down from where it's been in previous years, but it's still enormous," said Tom Silver, senior vice president of Dice, on Wednesday. "But there may be a perceived risk of working in a government position that perhaps wasn't there before."

Meanwhile, tech jobs in all sectors in the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore metro area are also down significantly, Silver said. For example, jobs in the area were up 50 percent in 2010, but in 2011, jobs were actually down by 17 percent, he said. But the area still is the second biggest tech job market in the nation with more than 7,500 jobs posted last year, Silver added.

With government IT salaries below the national average, Silver stressed that government must focus on career development in order to recruit and retain critical IT skills going forward. "I think the government has to position itself in a place that provides an environment for tech workers to grow, develop and evolve their skills around the latest and greatest technology," he said. "Tech workers today are concerned about any job they take, not only about what they will be working on today, but what will keep their skills up to date going forward."

Despite tight budgets, Silver argued that federal IT workers, particularly those with in-demand skills, have a bright future. "Although there are things that are changing from what a government job used to be, as a skilled tech worker, you're still in a pretty good spot," Silver said. "Budgets are still enormous, even if they're down from where they've been, and I think that's what tech workers should focus on."

Federal budget cuts are causing many agencies to scrap large traditional office spaces for open workstations, telework, and "office hoteling," where employees reserve desks as they need them. Federal Times reports that Bart Bush, the assistant commissioner for the Office of Client Solutions at the General Services Administration, is leading an effort to reduce GSA's real estate footprint -- potentially saving millions of dollars in leasing. The effort includes cutting the square footage of office space from 29,120 to 14,065 for about 170 employees.

The new hoteling concept means employees won't have their own desks, but rather will be required to reserve workstations when they plan to be in the office. The trend will mean scrapping the nameplates mounted on feds' doors in favor of emphasizing mobile technology, Bush told Federal Times. "Some agencies might promote more telework, or create more open spaces or rely more heavily on technology," he said.

Is your agency making changes to reduce its real estate footprint, in part by emphasizing hoteling, telework and mobile technology? What are your thoughts on the changes?

Training and investing in the IT workforce is among the top priorities for federal chief information officers in the coming year, particularly as the potential for a federal hiring freeze could prevent IT leaders from bringing on critical IT skills.

A new survey of 24 federal CIOs and deputy CIOs by Federal News Radio found that 40 percent of CIOs place IT workforce and training issues as one of their top five priorities for 2012. Cybersecurity, cloud computing and mobile computing ranked as the top priorities among CIOs for the coming year.

When asked what was their greatest concern about the impact of potential budget cuts on their agency, twenty-five percent said they were concerned that a hiring freeze would prevent them from bringing on critical IT people.

Still, most CIOs indicated they were not sure whether they would use the new tech fellows program to bring on staff. Thirty-three percent said they plan to use the tech fellows program, which appoints technology students expected to complete a master's or doctoral-level degree to two-year fellowships at federal agencies, while 50 percent said they did not know of their plans to use the program.

Telework implementation also was ranked as a priority for the coming year, though not nearly as highly as most other IT issues. Only 19.1 percent of CIOs ranked telework as one of their top five priorities for 2012.

Meanwhile, most CIOs believe they have a seat at the table for influencing mission-critical decisions at their agencies. More than two-thirds of respondents said their agency's senior decision makers value their input, while 80 percent said agency leaders understand the value of IT in meeting the mission.