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NIST Seeks Public Feedback on Draft About Commercial Satellite Cybersecurity
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NIST Seeks Public Feedback on Draft About Commercial Satellite Cybersecurity

The National Institute of Standards and Technology asks the public to comment on a new draft document about the cybersecurity of commercial satellite activities.

The document, titled “Introduction to Cybersecurity for Commercial Satellite Operations,” tackles how to manage cybersecurity risks of crewless space activities while considering space vehicle requirements, NIST said Wednesday.

The agency specifically wants feedback regarding the example use cases, corresponding controls and overall approach presented by the document. NIST may also create other publications for other space operation areas, based on the feedback to be received.

Interested parties may access the draft and instructions via this link and submit responses through  August 13. 

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Cypress International Launches “The Cypress Perspective” Podcast; CEO David Halverson Quoted
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Cypress International Launches “The Cypress Perspective” Podcast; CEO David Halverson Quoted

Cypress International announced the launch of a new podcast service on Friday called “The Cypress Perspective,” featuring experts across the defense industry as they discuss the latest challenges and initiatives across the Department of Defense (DOD) as well as defense and aerospace sectors.

“We are proud to bring together subject matter experts, like Admiral (Ret) Jamie Foggo, former Commander Navy Forces Europe and Rear Admiral (Ret) Bob Girrier, former Director Unmanned Systems, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations to share their insights on issues so important to the nation’s defense.” said David Halverson, CEO of Cypress International.

Cypress International revealed that the first podcast will be a three-part series focusing on the U.S. Navy’s needs from industry to enable unmanned systems to more effectively support the warfighter in the evolving distributed maritime operations environment.

This three-part series will be moderated by Jim McCarthy, vice president of Naval Programs at Cypress International. After more than twenty years of executive experience in the sector, McCarthy will share his expertise in Navy budgeting, acquisition and risk management spanning weapons, platforms, networks and system integration on The Cypress Perspective.

“We look forward to sharing regular podcasts on a range of important issues from across the DoD and aerospace & defense Industry on the Cypress International website,” Halverson added.

Visit CypressInternational.com to check out the first three episodes of The Cypress Perspective featuring Jim McCarthy discussing unmanned systems for the U.S. Navy. Stay tuned for more episodes from defense experts in the future.

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SIEGE Technologies Appoints Tracie Davidson as VP of Contracts; Alex Clary Quoted
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SIEGE Technologies Appoints Tracie Davidson as VP of Contracts; Alex Clary Quoted

SIEGE Technologies announced on Friday that Tracie Davidson, formerly of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has joined the company as its vice president of Contracts.

“Tracie’s seasoned background with Government contracting will serve as a collective arsenal of skills and abilities for SIEGE,” says Alex Clary, principal with Braes Capital. “We are excited to have such an experienced professional join our team!”

With the FBI, Davidson performed as a contract specialist and contracting officer, supporting cybersecurity efforts and protecting national security, for the last 24 years.

Over her career, Tracie has established and managed numerous multi-million dollar classified technical/engineering indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract vehicles. She recently completed her FAC-C Level II certification.

Davidson is a graduate of Oregon State University (OSU) where she spent two years in Army ROTC. In addition, she served four years with the Army Signal Corps as a Communications-Electronics Staff Officer.

About SIEGE Technologies 

As an advanced research and development company, SIEGE focuses exclusively on offensive and defensive cybersecurity technologies. Since its inception in 2010, the firm has enjoyed consistent year-over-year growth from a diverse customer base spanning US government agencies and commercial organizations funding research, development and acquisition of advanced information security technologies.

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Senate Bill Seeks to Help Companies Directly Counter Hackers
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Senate Bill Seeks to Help Companies Directly Counter Hackers

Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Steve Daines, R-Mont., have proposed a bill that would direct the Department of Homeland Security to study the potential advantages and risks of allowing private sector organizations to initiate measures against hackers during cyberattacks.

The bipartisan bill would require DHS to submit a report containing its recommendations and findings, including potential impacts on national security and foreign affairs, federal oversight, private entities that would be allowed to take actions, safeguards and level of certainty for attribution, Whitehouse’s office said Wednesday.

“The Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack shows why we should explore a regulated process for companies to respond when they’re targets,” said Whitehouse. “This bill will help us determine whether that process could deter and respond to future attacks, and what guidelines American businesses should follow.”

Current law authorizes the federal government to launch offensive operations against hackers and limits U.S. companies to internal defensive actions. Once the measure becomes law, DHS has 180 days to submit the report.

“The federal government should do more to empower the private sector to directly counter cyber threats from across the globe rather than tie their hands," said Daines.

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Air Force Plans Close-Air Support Transition With A-10 Retirement; John Roth Quoted
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Air Force Plans Close-Air Support Transition With A-10 Retirement; John Roth Quoted

The Department of the Air Force plans to begin retiring older A-10 Warthog aircraft units and transfer close air support and rescue missions from Nellis AF Base in Nevada to Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona starting next fiscal year.

The military branch said Wednesday the transition effort is included in the department's fiscal year 2022 budget request and contingent on Congress' approval of the A-10 retirement proposal.

“This realignment will consolidate all A-10 and HH-60 test, training, and weapon school activity at one location, allowing Airmen in these mission areas to train together for future threats," John Roth, acting secretary of the Air Force.

Roth added that the Air Force wants to transform Davis-Monthan into the branch's center of excellence for close air support and rescue operations.

The plan involves the transfer of A-10 Thunderbolt II and HH-60 Pave Hawk aircraft squadrons, one maintenance team and all supporting personnel after requisite environmental analyses are completed.

Boeing secured a potential 11-year, $999M contract in August 2019 to manage the production of up to 112 wing sets and spare kits for the Thunderbolt Advanced Continuation Kitting program.

The service noted that Nellis AFB will receive Lockheed Martin-built F-35 jets to support fighter aircraft operational tests and additional F-35A and F-22 units from other military bases.

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Jon Rychalski: VA to Conduct Enterprisewide IT, Physical Infrastructure Review for EHR Program
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Jon Rychalski: VA to Conduct Enterprisewide IT, Physical Infrastructure Review for EHR Program

The Department of Veterans Affairs completed a strategic review of its electronic health record modernization program and Jon Rychalski, VA’s chief financial officer, told lawmakers Thursday that the department will also carry out an enterprisewide assessment of information technology and physical infrastructure needs for the EHR initiative, Federal News Network reported.

VA is establishing its IT investment board and Rychalski said the board is already helping the department better manage its tech initiatives and make decisions about its EHR modernization effort.

“We’re working more of these issues through the IT investment board, because they obviously have cross-program effects into IT and into VA infrastructure,” Rychalski told members of the House Veterans Affairs Technology Modernization Subcommittee Thursday.

“We have a pretty good sense across the organization from a finance, IT and acquisition standpoint what’s going on. We consider them in that venue, and we have a broader audience there as well. If there are residual impacts on other parts of the organization, we all have a better sight picture into [what’s] going on,” he added.

VA Secretary Denis McDonough, who announced a 12-week strategic review of VA’s EHR modernization effort to address issues in March, spoke to reporters Wednesday following the completion of the EHR review.

“We’re very close to finalizing the next steps, including changes to the deployment effort to ensure that we come in on time, on budget and, most importantly, provide the best care for our vets and the best experience for our providers,” McDonough said.

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Joint Advisory Sheds Light on Russian Intell Agency’s Brute Force Cyber Campaign
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Joint Advisory Sheds Light on Russian Intell Agency’s Brute Force Cyber Campaign

The FBI, National Security Agency, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the U.K. government’s national cybersecurity center have issued a joint advisory on a brute force campaign by Russian military intelligence against U.S. and foreign organizations.

The malicious cyber activities by the Russian general staff main intelligence directorate 85th main special service center targeted government and military organizations, political organizations, defense contractors, think tanks, media companies, law firms, logistics and energy companies and higher education institutions, the FBI said Thursday.

The brute force capability enables threat actors to gain access to email and other protected data and identify valid account credentials through password guessing and other extensive login attempts.

The agencies said the exploitation efforts are still ongoing. They also listed in the advisory some of the known tactics, techniques and procedures of the threat actors involved in the brute force campaign.

The FBI, CISA, NSA and U.K.’s NCSC outlined several measures organizations can take to counter the cyberthreat, including the use of multifactor authentication, enabling time-out and lockout features whenever password authentication is needed, changing all default credentials and employing network segmentation and restrictions.

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Col. Timothy Lawrence Retires as AF Research Lab Information Directorate Head
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Col. Timothy Lawrence Retires as AF Research Lab Information Directorate Head

Col. Timothy Lawrence, who has led the Air Force Research Laboratory’s information directorate since July 2018, retired Thursday with the rank of colonel after a 33-year military career.

AFRL's May 27th retirement ceremony for Lawrence brought together military and civilian members to celebrate his accomplishments and contributions to the service branch, the laboratory said Thursday.

In his most recent capacity, he managed the $1.6 billion annual budget of the information directorate and its research and development programs in the command, control, communications, computers, cyber and intelligence area.

He previously oversaw several FalconSAT microsatellite design projects during his stint as director at the USAF Academy's Department of Astronautics Space Systems Research Center.

The Rome, New York-based Innovare Advancement Center named its Quantum Lab after Lawrence, according to AFRL.

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University Professor Susan Margulies to Serve as Head of NSF Engineering Directorate
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University Professor Susan Margulies to Serve as Head of NSF Engineering Directorate

The National Science Foundation has appointed Susan Margulies, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, to lead the agency's engineering directorate, effective Aug. 16.

She will be the first biomedical engineer to serve as head of the directorate that aims to help drive innovation through partnerships, grants and training and development initiatives, NSF said Thursday.

Margulies, who is also chair of the Georgia Tech and Emory's Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, is known for her research work about traumatic brain injury in children and ventilator-induced lung injury.

In her next role, she will aim to help the agency expand the country's engineering workforce through integrated national and international approaches.

“We can see the nation is turning to NSF to address some of the most pressing challenges facing science and engineering,” Margulies said.

“To do that, we must forge partnerships with industry, agencies, foundations, institutions of higher learning, communities, and countries.”

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John Sherman: Cloud Computing Key Element in Global DOD IT Modernization Strategy
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John Sherman: Cloud Computing Key Element in Global DOD IT Modernization Strategy

John Sherman, acting chief information officer at the Department of Defense, said DOD considers cloud computing as an important part of its strategy to modernize information technology infrastructure that supports U.S. military operations across the globe, DOD News reported.

He told a House subcommittee hearing Wednesday that cloud technology works to help warfighters access data faster as digital platforms are becoming prevalent in battlefield missions.

“While data management is not directly tied to specific program elements in the fiscal 2022 budget request, we are identifying, assessing and tracking our data-related investments as part of the budget certification process that I lead,” Sherman added.

President Biden’s proposed $715 billion DOD budget supports cloud-based software projects that, according to the acting department CIO, will drive technology process integration and next-generation capability delivery work.

At the hearing, Sherman also pointed to enterprise cybersecurity platforms as key to the Pentagon’s zero trust and digital risk management initiatives.

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