The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is set to release cybersecurity regulations for pipeline companies in response to a ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline that resulted in fuel shortages in the southeastern U.S., The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at DHS will issue this week a directive that would require pipeline operators to report cyber incidents to TSA and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Another set of mandatory requirements is expected in the coming weeks meant to help companies protect their systems from cyberattacks and respond to breaches, according to senior DHS officials.

“The Biden administration is taking further action to better secure our nation’s critical infrastructure,” Sarah Peck, a spokeswoman for DHS, said in a statement. “TSA, in close collaboration with CISA, is coordinating with companies in the pipeline sector to ensure they are taking all necessary steps to increase their resilience to cyber threats and secure their systems.” 

TSA’s first measure will direct pipeline companies to assign a cyber official responsible for reporting attacks to TSA and CISA through a direct line and assess the cybersecurity posture of their systems against current cyber guidelines.

“This is the first step, and the department views it as a first step, and it will be followed by a much more robust directive that puts in place meaningful requirements that are meant to be durable and flexible as technology changes,” said a senior DHS official.

The officials said the new directives may impose financial penalties should companies fail to address problems and shortcomings.

If you want to know more about the latest updates about the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification, then check out Potomac Officers Club's CMMC Forum coming up on June 16. To register for this virtual forum and view other upcoming events, visit the POC Events page.

Nitin Natarajan, deputy director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), said a crackdown on cryptocurrency would not hamper threat actors from launching ransomware attacks, Nextgov reported Tuesday.

“Criminals have always found an innovative way to continue the attack [through] some mechanism so, you know, if we were to magically flip a switch and make Bitcoin for instance completely transparent, they're going to find another way to do it,” Natarajan said Tuesday during a panel discussion on ransomware as a service.

He also highlighted the importance of adopting defensive measures against cyber threat actors. 

“We really push focusing on the prevention side, you know, how can we strengthen the ability for businesses, or large, small, and governments of all levels, and globally, to really protect themselves,” Natarajan added.

If you want to know more about the latest updates about the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), then check out Potomac Officers Club's (POC) 2021 CMMC Forum coming up on June 16th. 

CMMC Accreditation Body Chairman Karlton Johnson will serve as the keynote speaker for the Forum to provide his overview and vision of the CMMC Rollout as well as the top priorities for the board and how industry feedback will help to improve the vision behind how the organization develops for the first 100 days.

To register for this virtual forum and view other upcoming events, visit the POC Events page.

Unanet A/E announced on Tuesday that it has signed a new agreement with True North Solutions. The agreement stipulates that Unanet A/E will replace True North’s disparate business management systems with one simple-to-use platform that provides a single source of business information with real-time, interactive insights that facilitate data-driven business decisions.

“As our firm expands, it has quickly become clear we needed improved reporting, project visibility, resource planning and management that simply wasn’t possible with the basic technology tools we currently have implemented,” commented Blair Hanel, True North Solutions president.

“Unanet A/E will give us reports and dashboards with real-time information so we can easily and quickly track project updates and make decisions based on up-to-date information. And most importantly, as we continue to grow domestically and internationally, we know Unanet A/E will scale and expand with us,” Hanel added.

True North will use Unanet to replace its use of QuickBooks, Tenrox and homegrown spreadsheets, which the company had used to manage its business at the earliest stages. The company has grown to the point where a more comprehensive ERP system is required to handle its data.

Unanet A/E’s ERP system incorporates built-in multi-currency and multi-company capabilities to enable True North to manage its growing business across borders with seamless and straightforward accounting and invoicing. Unanet A/E’s technology will offer real-time data updates, project management and insight. True North can offer increased transparency to its clients.

True North has begun implementing Unanet A/E and intends to roll it out to its employees in Denver and Calgary by mid-2021.

“We frequently hear about companies running their large-scale businesses with tools that simply can’t keep up with their rate of growth,” said Matt Pantana, SVP of Product for Unanet A/E.

“When it becomes time to make the digital transition to more sophisticated business management, our trusted team takes the time to explain and educate businesses about how ERP systems can benefit them and builds a solution that works for them and integrates easily, rather than forcing them to adapt their company to the system.”

The U.S. Space Force has opened a $12.8 million facility dedicated to the research and development of space military technology.

Air Force Research Laboratory's Space Vehicles Directorate conducted a ribbon-cutting ceremony last Thursday to celebrate opening the Space Warfighting Operations R&D (SWORD) laboratory, Air Force Materiel Command said Monday.

The SWORD lab takes 26,000 square feet of space for laboratory operations and office activities of 65 scientific, technical and support personnel. Col. Eric Felt, who leads the Space Vehicles Directorate, hosted the ceremony where AFRL Commander delivered a keynote speech.

“We will also invest in technologies to increase the resistance of satellite systems to cyberattacks, and we will be working in the area of autonomy to enable space systems to automatically detect and respond to threat conditions faster than a human operator could achieve,” Felt stated.

John Hill, principal director for space policy at the Department of Defense (DOD), told the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) that the U.S. needs bolstered space-based technologies to compete with foreign adversaries, DOD News reported Monday.

Hill said U.S. national security requires these technologies as adversaries Russia and China continue to invest in counter-space systems.

'Russia and China view space as critical to modern warfare and consider the use of counter-space capabilities as both a means of reducing U.S. military effectiveness and winning future wars,'' he stated.

Gen. David Thompson, vice chief of space operations, said the U.S. Space Force will focus on integrating into the military's joint force in the service branch's second year of activity. USSF will also expand its efforts to establish new partnerships and sustain existing ones as part of the service's integration plan.

Frost & Sullivan announced on Tuesday that it has awarded Pavilion Data Systems with the 2020 North American Technology Innovation Award for the Pavilion HyperParallel Data Platform. Frost & Sullivan based its decision on its recent analysis of the North American market for hyperparallel flash arrays for data storage.

The Platform is powered by nonvolatile memory express over fabrics (NVMe-oF) and consists of the Pavilion HyperParallel Flash Array™, an ultra-modular 4U chassis array, and Pavilion Hyper OS, that has the potential to become the standard for rack-scale NVMe-oF storage systems.

“Unlike conventional storage arrays that have two flash storage controllers, each Pavilion HyperParallel Flash Array has up to 20 controllers which can support up to 72 NVMe SSDs in 4 RU,” commented Varun Babu, senior research analyst, Tech Vision, Frost & Sullivan.

“It also performs data management using thin provisioning, snapshots, and clones that provide true performance without unnecessary proprietary drivers or the software burdening the host. The NVMe-oF technology leverages a high-speed switching interconnect for linking, computing, and storing data, similar to traditional direct-attached storage (DAS).”

Pavilion’s Data Systems storage platform facilitates extremely high-performance, high-density storage with shared storage’s economic and operational benefits. This is an improvement over traditional All-Flash arrays, especially in spaces such as data centers.

The OpenChoice Storage business model of Pavilion enables scaled applications for its customers. The Model assists customers to restore and upgrade their storage media-on-demand cost-effectively, based on their application needs, budgets, and technology availability.

Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has developed a product with innovative features and functionality that is gaining rapid acceptance in the market. The award recognizes the quality of the solution and the customer value enhancements it enables.

“Pavilion Data Systems’ NVMe-oF technology is well suited to address future Internet of Things (IoT) needs by analyzing, processing, and achieving the maximum performance density in storing petabytes of data cost-effectively,” added Babu.

 “Its ability to reduce operational problems for parallel applications such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and deep learning and to integrate with existing facilities to enhance and streamline applications across a wide range of industries is rapidly establishing Pavilion Data Systems as the market standard.”

Battelle and Catahoula Resources announced on Tuesday that the two companies have formed a partnership to develop solutions for the capture, transport and sequestration of carbon dioxide produced at ethanol facilities in Nebraska. 

“Battelle has a long history in geologic carbon sequestration and views it as a technology to make a real difference in mitigating CO2 emissions,” said Matt Vaughan, executive vice president of Contract Research at Battelle. 

Catahoula and Battelle plan to design and build multiple low-cost storage options either onsite or close to existing ethanol plants where the geology proves to be favorable. Nebraska ethanol producers can benefit from nearby low-cost storage options, eliminating added pipeline expenses or the uncertainty in delivering CO2 to out-of-state storage networks. 

“Catahoula’s ability to move quickly and deliver large energy projects cost-effectively fits well with Battelle’s technical expertise and ability to minimize and manage long term subsurface storage risk through the injection phase and until closure,” Vaughan added.

NASA plans to establish a new Earth system observatory that could help inform efforts on climate change, disaster mitigation and forest fire response as well as support modernization of real-time agricultural processes.

The space agency said Tuesday that the observatory is aimed at providing a 3D view of Earth, from bedrock to atmosphere, using satellites designed to complement the others.

Sen. Bill Nelson, administrator of NASA, said information on the Earth’s changing climate over the last three decades is drawn from the space agency's satellite observations and research.

"NASA’s new Earth System Observatory will expand that work, providing the world with an unprecedented understanding of our Earth’s climate system, arming us with next-generation data critical to mitigating climate change, and protecting our communities in the face of natural disasters," he added.

The observatory will focus on several areas, including drought assessment and forecasting, aerosols' impact on global energy balance, surface deformation and change as well as air quality forecasting and severe weather prediction.

NASA has partnered with the Indian Space Research Organisation for two radar systems designed for providing a less-than-a-half-inch measurement of changes in Earth’s surface. The space agency has kicked off the observatory's formulation phase.

NASA’s office of inspector general (OIG) has recommended that the space agency establish metrics to track the performance of its enterprise architecture and integrate it with the enterprise security architecture to help strengthen its cybersecurity readiness. 

The OIG made the recommendation after it found that NASA’s “disorganized approach to Enterprise Architecture” hampers the agency’s ability to detect, mitigate and prevent cyberattacks, according to a May 18th report.

Enterprise architecture is a blueprint of IT assets, governance principles and business processes used to establish a standardized and unified software and hardware environment. Enterprise security architecture integrates cybersecurity into the overall enterprise architecture.

The inspector general also called on NASA to work with the chief engineer on strategies to identify enterprise architecture gaps across institutional and mission IT boundaries and assess the optimal organizational placement of enterprise architect and enterprise security architects during and after Mission Support Future Architecture Program implementation to enhance cyber readiness.

“We also noted that NASA conducts its assessment and authorization (A&A) of IT systems inconsistently and ineffectively, with the quality and cost of the assessments varying widely across the Agency,” the OIG report reads.

To address the issue, NASA should identify each center's annual cost for conducting independent assessments and establish baseline requirements in the proposed Cybersecurity and Privacy Enterprise Solutions and Services contract for a dedicated team to oversee the assessment process for NASA’s 526 IT systems.