The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory will help the Department of Homeland Security’s science and technology (DHS S&T) directorate test simple methods for preventing viral infection among travelers that use public transportation.

DHS S&T said Tuesday that it will also work with the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority in virus mitigation research efforts as part of a push to help transit operators nationwide gain actionable insights to protect commuters from the coronavirus and other airborne viruses.

The weeklong testing activity is scheduled to occur between late January and early February outside of the New York City transit system’s peak operating hours without public involvement.

The DHS-Lincoln Lab-MTA partnership will spread an aerosolized water-based agent inside vehicles in a way that imitates how people breathe, talk, cough or sneeze.

Tests will take place in rail cars, subway stations and inactive buses, according to the department. DHS added that researchers will use multiple techniques to detect, quantify and model virus concentration on heating, ventilation, and air conditioning filters, face masks, skin wipes and cloth coupons.

Door and window operation, HVAC setting and air filter modification and mask use are among the measures the research team will observe during the activity.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released four draft documents that offer recommendations and guidance on how federal agencies and manufacturers can ensure cybersecurity for internet of things (IoT)-based devices.

The NIST Special Publication 800-213 and Interagency Reports 8259B, 8259C and 8259D seek to help tackle the challenges raised in the IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2020, NIST said Tuesday.

“The three NISTIRs offer a suggested starting point for manufacturers who are building IoT devices for the federal government market, while the SP provides guidance to federal agencies on what they should ask for when they acquire these devices,” said Katerina Megas, program manager for NIST’s Cybersecurity for IoT Program.

SP 800-213 includes recommendations to help federal agencies consider how an IoT device can integrate into a federal information platform and offers guidance on how to identify cybersecurity requirements for such devices. The NISTIR 8259 documents seek to guide IoT device makers on how to implement the special publication.

Public comments on the four documents are due Feb. 12th.

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report says few of the 23 Chief Financial Officers Act agencies had implemented seven fundamental practices for managing risks to the information and communications technology (ICT) supply chain.

GAO said in a report published Tuesday that none of the 23 CFO Act agencies fully implemented all the supply chain risk management (SCRM) practices and 14 those civilian agencies had not adopted any of the seven practices.

Those ICT SCRM practices are establishing executive oversight of ICT SCRM activities; developing an agencywide ICT SCRM strategy; establishing an approach to identify and document agency ICT supply chain; coming up with a process to carry out agencywide reviews of ICT supply chain risks; establishing a process to implement a SCRM review of a potential supplier; developing organizational ICT SCRM requirements for suppliers; and developing organizational procedures to detect compromised and counterfeit ICT products prior to deployment.

The report noted that agencies cited the lack of federal guidance on SCRM as one of the factors that limited their implementation of the basic practices for handling supply chain risks.

"Until agencies implement all of the foundational ICT SCRM practices, they will be limited in their ability to address supply chain risks across their organizations effectively,” the report reads.

The Department of the Navy (DON) has issued a memo on plans to conduct a review of the service’s information technology infrastructure portfolio. 

The IT infrastructure portfolio review seeks to “identify potential courses of action to improve the value produced by the substantial annual IT spend in order to reinvest in IT priorities and return funds to the broader DON,” the office of the department’s chief information officer said Monday.

DON said the review will involve cross-functional teams that will gather data related to current capabilities, resources and requirements and that it will use the results to inform decisions related to the naval IT service delivery model.

According to the memo, the portfolio assessment will look at four areas: enterprise infrastructure at the Navy and the Marine Corps; software development infrastructure, deployment and operations; data and analytics; and digital workplace.

The department expects the review to generate an inventory of existing IT infrastructure and resources, an evaluation of how the current inventory delivers capabilities, a model of capabilities reflecting cloud-based tech standards and recommendations to the delivery of cloud-enabled IT infrastructure.

The U.S. Army plans to soon activate a new research laboratory that will focus on transmission technologies for helicopters and other types of rotorcraft.

The Vehicle Innovative Powertrain Experimental Research laboratory will undergo commissioning before the end of 2020 and initiate activity in January, the Army said Monday. VIPER will operate under Army Research Laboratory within the service branch's Combat Capabilities Development Command.

“The flexibility of VIPER is what makes it unique compared to other existing testbeds that usually focus on one gearbox platform,” said Ryan Emerson, chief of the propulsion division within ARL's Vehicle Technology Directorate.

The new facility features a test stand that allows for motor reconfiguration, an output unit that produces 2000 horsepower and input units with 1000 horsepower.