The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has identified telecommunications carriers and their affiliates that have reported using equipment and services from Huawei and ZTE in their networks and found that removing or replacing those equipment could cost all identified service providers about $1.8 billion. 

Carriers that appear to be eligible for reimbursement under the Secure and Trusted Communications Network Act of 2019 said that eliminating or replacing those equipment from the two Chinese firms could cost about $1.62B, FCC said Friday.

“By identifying the presence of insecure equipment and services in our networks, we can now work to ensure that these networks—especially those of small and rural carriers—rely on infrastructure from trusted vendors,” said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.

“I once again strongly urge Congress to appropriate funding to reimburse carriers for replacing any equipment or services determined to be a national security threat so that we can protect our networks and the myriad parts of our economy and society that rely upon them,” Pai added.

FCC issued an order in November 2019 to ban the use of the Universal Service Fund to buy any communications equipment or services from companies that pose a national security threat, such as Huawei and ZTE.

The commission’s office of economics and analytics and wireline competition bureau started the supply chain data collection effort in February.

President Trump has signed a new space policy directive outlining a set of principles to protect space systems from cyber threats.

A White House memorandum posted Friday says SPD-5 directs developers to design and operate space systems, software and related infrastructure using cyber-informed, risk-based engineering and come up with cybersecurity plans to prevent unauthorized access and protect against communications jamming and spoofing.

The directive also calls for the adoption of intrusion detection processes, physical security for automated information platforms and appropriate cyber hygiene practices.

Operators and owners of space assets should collaborate to foster the development of best practices and share incident, threat and warning data within the space industry using information sharing and analysis centers and other venues.

“Agencies are directed to work with the commercial space industry and other non-government space operators, consistent with these principles and with applicable law, to further define best practices, establish cybersecurity-informed norms, and promote improved cybersecurity behaviors throughout the Nation’s industrial base for space systems,” the directive reads.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded more than $28 million in funds to nine research teams to support the development of prototypes as part of the second phase of a collaborative accelerator initiative.

The Convergence Accelerator program aims to address national societal issues through the use of collaborative multidisciplinary research efforts, NSF said Thursday.

The selected teams will create approaches in the areas of knowledge networks, future jobs, artificial intelligence and the national talent ecosystem over a 24-month period.

NSF previously awarded $39M to 43 research grants in 2019 under the accelerator program's initial phase for collaborative fundamental scientific exploration efforts.

Douglas Maughan, a program head at NSF, said the 2019 teams managed to build their initial concepts and work with various partners and clients.

The awardees are:

• Eduworks Corp.
• Northwestern University
• Purdue University
• Texas A&M
• University of California Santa Barbara
• University of California San Francisco
• University of Cincinnati
• University of Michigan
• Vanderbilt University

The U.S. Army's Network Cross-Functional Team might adopt satellite communications services as part of a new set of network tools in fiscal year 2023, C4ISRnet reported Thursday. The team, in charge of network modernization, exchanged ideas with industry entities to identify what services can be included in the network capability set for 2023.

The discussions, held Wednesday, considered satellite-as-a-service as one of the Army's network priorities. These capability sets are released every two years, with an upcoming one for fiscal year 2021 that will begin soon. 

The capability set for fiscal 2021 focuses on technologies that address network issues, and the one for 2023 will aim to bolster the Army tactical network's performance.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched a new program that aims to reduce the size, weight and power requirements of military technologies through quantum science. The Science of Atomic Vapors for New Technologies (SAVaNT) program would address an equipment-related issue that hinders the transition of quantum research into practical applications, DARPA said Tuesday.

SAVaNT will seek to bolster room-temperature atomic vapors to address complexities that hinder the full leverage of quantum applications.

The use of warm atomic vapors eliminates the need for complex laboratory equipment required in the standard quantum cooling process, DARPA said. The program's challenge is to address the effects of temperature changes on the duration of quantum effects.

“The SAVaNT program will explore a new suite of technologies based on room-temperature atomic vapors to address important gaps for military-relevant applications,” said Tatjana Curcic, program manager of DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office.

DARPA will virtually host a proposer's day event for the program on Sept. 3.

The General Services Administration (GSA) has released a report detailing ethical principles that federal agencies must consider when leveraging citizen data for decision-making purposes.

Nextgov reported Thursday that the draft Data Ethics Framework report includes recommendations from a 14-member interagency team responsible for developing an ethics blueprint for the federal government.

The report also includes input from entities such as the Chief Data Officer (CDO) Council,  Federal Privacy Council (FPC) and Interagency Committee on Standards Policy (ICSP).

According to the framework, agencies must “uphold applicable statutes, regulations, professional practices and ethical standards” when handling citizen data while ensuring adherence to transparency, accountability, confidentiality and privacy requirements.

“Instead of looking at issues from a single perspective, ethical decision making is best achieved by taking a holistic approach and widening the context to weigh the greater implications of data use,” the report states.

The framework will serve as a “living resource” that will be continually updated by ICSP and CDO. GSA intends to release the complete version of the report by the end of the year.

Angela Bailey, chief human capital officer at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has said the department is nearing 100 percent in telework operations and working on initiatives focused on employee wellness.

Bailey told Federal News Network in an interview aired Thursday that her office has launched virtual leadership development initiatives and mindfulness training to support quarantined staff and improve employee skillsets.

She added that her office worked to communicate with employees on a weekly basis to gain feedback on potential policy reforms that DHS could implement moving forward. “We know exactly what their needs are. And we’re addressing those needs on the fly,” noted Bailey.

Speaking on how DHS might cope following the COVID-19 pandemic, Bailey told Federal News Network that she predicts a “hybrid situation” that builds on the department’s experience in prior modernization efforts.

“First of all, as an agency, and we’ve said this from day one, DHS never stopped working. And we’re not alone as a federal agency, right? There’s many federal agencies, but we’re very proud of the fact that not only are we getting the job done, we’re in some cases getting it done even better than we did before,” she said.

CyberCore launched the WindRose Supply Chain Threat Assessment Center to provide the federal and commercial sectors insight into customers and contractors in 2019. As security threats increase, federal government contractors’ accountability for security breaches continues to grow. 

WindRose has leveraged artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to assess business and product risk of the Supply Chain Network. WindRose has scaled global Information Technology (IT) supply chain threats and vulnerabilities by providing a comprehensive analysis, covering all threat vectors. 

CyberCore’s WindRose follows a cyber and supply chain focused analysis framework, consisting of over 50,000 Non-Cooperative Data Sources, where 150 Threat Factors are assessed across 15 Key Supply Chain Elements which are analyzed within 5 Critical Threat Vectors.

With the center’s capabilities, WindRose recently investigated a corporation that provided PKI consulting as well as user interface design for cryptographic applications. The organization did not do business with the federal government directly; however, their partners had a history of supporting the DoD. 

Investigation of individuals associated with the organization indicated that most of the development team resided in Russia and Ukraine. The owner had direct ties to Russian oligarchs via family, and the threat of compromise was reported as critical. 

“It is imperative organizations thoroughly vet their suppliers, subcontractors, and partners to ensure that they are meeting the strict government compliance requirements. This is significant as prime contractors become ever more liable for their partners’ bad behavior,” said Neal Frick, CyberCore’s VP of Mission Services. 

About CyberCore Technologies 

Excellence. Driven. CyberCore Technologies is the leading provider of Secure Supply Chain Management and Cyber Solutions focused on protecting our customer’s environment from external and internal threats using our certified ISO 28000:2007 Supply Chain Risk Management and ISO 20243:2015 Mitigating Maliciously Tainted and Counterfeit Products processes.  CyberCore provides full Lifecycle IT and Mission Engineering Services.  

Go Deep.  Get Answers. Expert supply chain assessment services using machine learning/artificial intelligence techniques to provide analysis in five areas:  cyber-attack surface; nefarious associations and nation state influence; regulatory, sanctions and law; hardware and software risk; and financial risk. 

Problems, We Solve Them. Whether we’re serving our government or corporate clients—working in cyber security, data analysis, IT support, or software development—we have a team that is motivated, professional, and uncompromising. Together, there’s no innovation we can’t imagine, and no mission need we can’t support.