U.S. Army researchers used lead hafnate, a compound with anti-ferroelectric properties, to produce antiferroelectric thin films that could help warfighters with maintenance and control the large volume of energy and provide the military with a technological advantage over adversaries.

Brendan Hanrahan, a materials engineer at Army Research Laboratory, said in a statement published Monday anti-ferroelectrics enable harnessing of raw watts of pulse power needed in a defibrillator, railgun or other technologies that work on a burst of electrical power.

“Anti-ferroelectrics also naturally absorb oscillating signals, which make them excellent electronic filters,” he added.

Hanrahan and Nicholas Strnad, an Army materials scientist, studied the use of atomic layer deposition, which is a process employed by semiconductor manufacturers, to develop anti-ferroelectric thin films for silicon wafers.

“ARL has been a leader in atomic layer deposition of ferroelectrics for the past five years. If you combine this capability with the current ubiquity of hafnium, it’s very easy to imagine why we should try tackling this anti-ferroelectric lead hafnate from the old literature,” said Hanrahan.

Army looks to further evaluate the potential of lead hafnate as an anti-ferroelectric material.

The Government Accountability Office has proposed six measures to help the Department of Defense address challenges associated with the development and integration of alternative position, navigation and timing technologies.

GAO said Monday it came up with policy recommendations after the government audit agency reviewed efforts at the department to develop backup PNT or complementary systems to GPS.

The office found that DOD is pursuing strategies to produce relative and absolute PNT systems. The first approach involves inertial sensors and clocks capable of giving relative PNT information without external signals, while the second approach supports celestial and magnetic navigation and utilizes satellites in low Earth orbit or very low radio frequency bands for data transmission, according to the audit report.

Defense officials told the congressional watchdog that dependence on GPS systems, the lack of a central office that oversees PNT development efforts and unclear performance requirements are among the factors that hinder the work.

GAO recommended that government and industry stakeholders consider adopting policies to increase collaboration, boost resilience, clarify requirements, encourage public-private coordination, implement a permanent open architecture initiative and facilitate vulnerability analysis for the department’s alternative PNT projects.

The FBI issued a statement on Monday attributing the cyberattack on Colonial Pipeline’s networks to the ransomware group called Darkside.

The bureau said it was notified of a network disruption at Colonial Pipeline on Friday and that it continues to work with government partners and the company on the investigation with regard to the breach. Nextgov reported that Colonial Pipeline is working on a “system restart plan.”

“While our mainlines (Lines 1, 2, 3 and 4) remain offline, some smaller lateral lines between terminals and delivery points are now operational. We are in the process of restoring service to other laterals and will bring our full system back online only when we believe it is safe to do so, and in full compliance with the approval of all federal regulations,” Colonial Pipeline said in a statement obtained by the publication.

The White House also established an interagency task force led by the Department of Energy to respond to the cyber breach at Colonial Pipeline, according to Nextgov. 

Liz Sherwood-Randall, homeland security adviser to the president, said in a press briefing that the task force also includes the FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, the departments of Defense and the Treasury and other agencies.

Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology and a 2021 Wash100 Award winner, said the ransomware used in the attack is a known variant and that the intelligence community is investigating potential links to nation-states.

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The National Security Agency (NSA), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) have released an analysis paper that assesses vulnerabilities associated with the adoption of 5G technology. 

The document analyzes the major threat vectors across 5G domains and those are policy and standards, supply chain and 5G systems architecture, NSA said Monday. Under the three threat vectors, the paper outlines the sub-threats that describe additional vulnerabilities that cyber actors can exploit and potential threat scenarios.

Standards sub-threat vectors include open standards and optional controls, while supply chain sub-threats cover counterfeit and inherited components. For 5G systems architecture, software, network security, legacy communications infrastructure and spectrum sharing are some of the sub-threat vectors described in the paper.

The Potential Threat Vectors to 5G Infrastructure analysis paper was developed by the 5G Threat Model Working Panel, which seeks to explore potential threat vectors that may be linked to the use of 5G non-standalone networks.

The working panel was established through the Enduring Security Framework, which was created to help assess risks and vulnerabilities to 5G infrastructure as one of the lines of effort of the National Strategy to Secure 5G.

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Some industry experts have expressed their views on the Transactional Data Reporting pilot program after the General Services Administration reported steady progress with TDR, Federal News Network reported Monday.

In late April, Jeff Koses, senior procurement executive at GSA’s office of government-wide policy, wrote in a blog post that the TDR pilot exceeded targets in three of nine evaluation metrics for fiscal year 2020: contract-level pricing, small business performance and data completeness.

Larry Allen, president of Allen Federal Business Partners, said TDR has developed into a “viable option” for many business entities.

“I will admit to having been a skeptic, but I think that, so long as a company keeps good records on what they provide to their GSA contracting officer, TDR can be a good way for some companies to obtain a schedule contract that otherwise might not be able to,” Allen said in an email to FNN. “GSA may have even been a little ahead of the curve here in terms of TDR attracting non-traditional contractors, something that is very sought after now in Defense Department and even civilian agencies.” 

Alan Thomas, chief operating officer at IntelliBridge, said the agency should come up with a strategy for working with the GSA inspector general once it decides to transition the TDR pilot to full implementation phase.

“The claims in the blog post are great but will be even more compelling with accompanying data,” he said in an email. “Stepping back from the pilot and thinking about full implementation, GSA is going to need a strategy for working with the inspector general on TDR. The IG has a lot invested in the current price reduction clause regime and won’t move away easily from it.” 

Thomas, former commissioner of GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service, noted that GSA should provide contracting officers access to TDR data to help facilitate the decision-making process by using pricing information with process automation software and analytic tools.

Forcepoint announced on Thursday that it has acquired Cyberinc. Cyberinc’s Smart Isolation capability technology gives administrators granular control to minimize risk without impeding user productivity.  Forcepoint will integrate Smart Isolation capabilities within its Data-first SASE architecture to strengthen its information technology portfolio.

"Forcepoint is executing on our vision for the industry's most comprehensive Data-first SASE offering that delivers risk-based data security everywhere, over every channel, to give customers consistent enforcement anywhere their people work," commented Manny Rivelo, CEO of Forcepoint. 

"The acquisition of Cyberinc's Smart Isolation capabilities is the first of many investments Forcepoint will make to enhance user productivity, lower operational burdens and eliminate traditional monolithic products through a best-in-class SASE cloud service," Rivelo added. 

Information technology services are more distributed than ever before, prompting commercial cybersecurity teams to adapt to evolving hybrid workforces and ever-expanding SAAS applications. Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) architecture, which reimagines fragmented networking and security products as converged, cloud-native services, provides a gripping path forward. 

In the distributed IT environment, Forepoint’s  Data-first SASE platform enables enterprises to use the cloud to transform their network and security architectures. The SASE platform places data security first and simplifies connectivity and unifies security policy enforcement everywhere employees, partners and customers use data across the distributed enterprise. 

Cyberinc developed the first-ever Smart Isolation capability that is context-aware and adapts browsing experience with dynamic risk assessment. The Cyberinc Threat Intelligence Service powers Smart Isolation. This new capability adapts web rendering according to the risk levels of the page or web element with two complementary approaches to rendering. Those two approaches being Secure Streaming and UX Optimized. 

Forcepoint aims to integrate Cyberinc's Smart Isolation capabilities within the company's current SASE offering, including Cloud Security Gateway, Private Access, Email Security gateway and Next-Generation Firewall to offer enterprises of all sizes better visibility and control to protect against cyberthreats as well as theft or loss of sensitive data.

"Like Forcepoint, Cyberinc understands the key to modern security is to get ahead of the threat and prevent breaches before they happen. Our shared vision is to intelligently adapt to the changing levels of risk posed as employees click on links or web pages while balancing a better native user experience and security," stated Samir Shah, CEO of Cyberinc.

"Forcepoint has the broadest portfolio and the best expertise to deliver a data-first SASE experience today. I look forward to working with their engineering and development teams to rapidly advance integration of our industry-first smart isolation technology with the rest of Forcepoint's security offerings," concluded Shah. 

The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) is interested in using commercial multifactor authentication to facilitate secure access to industrial systems not directly connected to U.S. military networks, C4ISRnet reported Friday.

DIU is in search of a tool that would verify identities on platforms not accessible via a military-issued common access card.

The organization said in a source sought to notice it requires a tool to protect the military's access to non-government, cloud-based information systems within the commercial sector.

These commercial systems are not linked to the Department of Defense's CAC, and thus require DOD to use alternative means of secure access. DIU intends to this tool to securely collaborate with commercial partners.