Marc Raimondi, a spokesman for the Department of Justice (DOJ), said the DOJ’s office of the chief information officer has stopped the method the threat actor uses to access the department’s Microsoft O365 email environment after learning of the malicious activity related to the SolarWinds cyber incident on Dec. 24th. 

“At this point, the number of potentially accessed O365 mailboxes appears limited to around 3-percent and we have no indication that any classified systems were impacted,” Raimondi said in a statement published Wednesday.

In mid-December, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an emergency directive directing all federal civilian agencies to mitigate a compromise that threat actors are exploiting in SolarWinds’ Orion Network Management products.

Raimondi said DOJ has classified the activity as a major cyber incident under the Federal Information Security Modernization Act and has begun to initiate measures.

“The Department will continue to notify the appropriate federal agencies, Congress, and the public as warranted,” he added.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has begun assessments on the use of facial recognition amid the pandemic where individuals usually wear masks that cover up most of the face, Federal News Network reported Tuesday. 

NIST is conducting studies on image quality and facial recognition performance when the scanned face is partially covered by a mask.

The agency seeks to update existing guidance on facial recognition technologies to accommodate this pandemic-driven norm.

Patrick Grother, a computer scientist and biometrics expert with NIST, said on Federal Monthly Insights – Digital Transformation that some facial recognition algorithms focus on the area with the eyes.

“We started maybe two or three different bits of work, one on quality assessment – can you look at an image and say it’s a good quality image? That is important to performance downstream, Grother said. 

He said the biometrics industry will need to make cameras more flexible over the long term.

The Ocean Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting ocean environments, will work with the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to address a range of issues affecting the waters. NOAA said Tuesday it agreed to help the nonprofit study how ocean acidification and climate change affect coasts and oceans.

“When it comes to advancing science, conservation and our understanding of the largely unknown ocean, NOAA is committed to building diverse and productive collaborations like the one with The Ocean Foundation,”  said retired Navy RDML Tim Gallaudet, Ph.D., assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and deputy NOAA administrator. 

The partnership also aims to boost coastal resiliency against these effects, protect monuments and other forms of heritage in marine environments and economically develop U.S. marine aquaculture.

“These partnerships help accelerate NOAA’s mission to predict changes in climate, weather, the ocean and coasts, share that knowledge with communities, strengthen the Blue Economy, and conserve and manage healthy coastal and marine ecosystems and resources,” Gallaudet added. 

NOAA and The Ocean Foundation will also jointly support the National Estuarine Research Reserve System, a group of coastal sites that serve as sanctuaries and research grounds for estuarine systems. Estuaries are habitats where fresh and salt water have mixed.

“Our partnership with NOAA will allow both partners to continue our long-established international scientific relationships and research collaborations," said Mark Spalding, president of The Ocean Foundation.

Adm. Charles Richard, who leads U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) and was a 2020 Wash100 Award recipient, said the Nuclear Command, Control and Communications (NC3) network is working properly despite concerns about the system's cybersecurity.

"There is a very visible endorsement of the importance of NC3 and the steps that we have to go do," Richard said. Richard noted that NC3 works differently from other systems and does not have the same vulnerabilities, Breaking Defense reported Tuesday.

The National Defense Authorization Act of 2021 raised concerns about NC3's cybersecurity and ordered a report on the how to improve the system in that aspect. Richard's statement on NC3's status responds to these concerns.

NC3 consists of computers, radios and satellites that grant the U.S. president control of the country's nuclear assets. Richard told Breaking Defense that NC3 will gradually received cyber defense updates through the NC3 Next program. 

"I look forward to providing that report to Congress, because we’re already doing all of that: we already have that concept; we already have those responsibilities defined. And so it’s simply a matter of writing it all down and reporting it to Congress,” he added.

NETSCOUT SYSTEMS has extended its Smart Perimeter Protection to Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company recently reported. The combination of NETSCOUT’s Cyber Investigator (NCI) and CyberStream software with AWS packet access services will enable efficiencies in mitigating novel security threats as enterprises move applications to the cloud. The solution will seamlessly integrate with AWS.

“NETSCOUT is committed to providing the most cost-effective and consistent visibility and control regardless of where an application runs,” said Paul Barrett, CTO, Enterprise, NETSCOUT.

AWS’ solution will leverage packet data and cyber analytics to find the root cause of cybersecurity threats. NETSCOUT has collaborated with AWS on packet access solutions by introducing innovative ways to access packet traffic for cybersecurity and end-user experience use cases.

The company recently announced Gateway Load Balancer (GWLB), which provides scalable access to packet traffic for security and performance management. GWLB enables customers to direct traffic from any Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) to CyberStream and Cyber Investigator without leaving the cloud.

“NCI and CyberStream extend security forensics capabilities into the cloud, unlike any other solution. Armed with NETSCOUT’s smart data, security, and IT operations teams benefit from a shared perspective and a cost-effective solution that scales to the needs of the cloud,” Barrett added.

About NETSCOUT

NETSCOUT SYSTEMS, INC. (NASDAQ: NTCT) helps assure digital business services against disruptions in availability, performance, and security. Our market and technology leadership stems from combining our patented smart data technology with smart analytics. We provide real-time, pervasive visibility and insights customers need to accelerate and secure their digital transformation.

Our approach transforms the way organizations plan, deliver, integrate, test, and deploy services and applications. Our nGenius™ service assurance solutions provide real-time, contextual analysis of service, network, and application performance. Arbor Smart DDoS Protection by NETSCOUT products help protect against attacks that threaten availability and advanced threats that infiltrate networks to steal critical business assets.