Gen. John Murray, commander of Army Futures Command and a 2020 Wash100 Award winner, said the U.S. Army’s upcoming test of SpaceX’s Starlink broadband will focus on assessing the reliability and potential vulnerabilities of the service, SpaceNews reported Wednesday.

“I would view this as exploratory,” Murray told reporters Wednesday during a Defense Writers Group conference call. “It’s about figuring out what capabilities they can provide, and what vulnerabilities do they have?”

SpaceX and the Army signed a three-year agreement to test the capability of Starlink broadband in transmitting data across military networks as the service branch seeks to supplement its terrestrial and satellite communications systems.

Murray added the agreement seeks to provide the military branch an opportunity to evaluate the service "before we lock ourselves into a multibillion dollar acquisition program."

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed the U.S. Air Force’s Platform One DevOps team to advance Agile software development by deploying 10 software updates per day for a secure communications platform, Nextgov reported Wednesday.

“We’ve consistently been at 10 deployments per day since that occurred,” Maj. Rob Slaughter, director of Platform One, told the publication. “For a while there, we were in the area of 30 deploys per day. Now, we’re probably at, like, 12.”

He said the communications tool has become a “dire need” as more service personnel started teleworking as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, prompting the Platform One team to rapidly field code.

According to the report, Platform One works on several programs, including F-35, F-16 and F-18; Space C2 and SpaceCAMP; the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC); and Northern Command Pathfinder.

A Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) report submitted by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to Congress shows an 8 percent drop in cybersecurity incidents reported by agencies in fiscal year 2019.

The number of agencies that secured an overall rating of “managing risk” in the risk management assessment process rose from 62 in FY 2018 to 72 in FY 2019, according to the FISMA report.

FedScoop reported that only three of the 28,581 cyber incidents in FY 2019 were tagged as “major” and occurred at agencies within the Department of Homeland Security with low, negligible or minimal impact.

“This FISMA report reflects improvements in areas of focus under the President’s Management Agenda and Federal Agency elements of the National Cybersecurity Strategy,” Suzette Kent, federal chief information officer and a 2020 Wash100 Award winner, said in a statement. “It shows Agencies are making significant progress in managing risk and also highlights that focused efforts to secure government mobile devices have been especially important in today’s expanded telework environment.”

The report attributed the cyber improvements to DHS directives and programs as well as updated policies concerning Trusted Internet Connections, high value assets and identity credential and access management.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has issued a request for comments to seek inputs in line with the creation of an implementation plan for the government's national 5G security strategy.

NTIA said Friday that it aims to obtain information on various approaches that can speed up the development and fielding of 5G technologies in the U.S. The agency is seeking comments on domestic 5G rollouts, assessment of new technologies, research, development and testing efforts.

NTIA also requests for information on potential gaps and factors that may affect the development of 5G security. The government published the National Strategy to Secure 5G plan to evaluate cybersecurity and economic risks and market the development of secure 5G technologies worldwide.

Norfolk Naval Shipyard deployed drones to help personnel from different units inspect and recover from damages caused by a storm in April 2020. The storm damaged multiple buildings and required the shipyard to assess areas, such as those with broken windows, for repairs, Naval Sea Systems Command said Tuesday.

Curt Hart, nuclear engineering and planning manager at NNSY, led the damage assessments and succeeding repairs. The drones captured site images that allowed engineers to conclude that an affected building had weakening window fasteners.

“This saved time and money, eliminated the need for personnel to perform high-risk work and provided better support for the fleet by getting the critical shop resources located inside the building back in action quicker,” said Rob Hale, head of the site's refueling secretary branch.

Now, NNSY may use the same drone-driven approach to inspect rooftops, cramped areas and crane booms instead of deploying personnel for these types of work.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has created a mathematical formula designed to boost the efficiency of frequency sharing in wireless communication networks. NIST said Tuesday that its new formula uses machine learning to select a frequency channel through input from previous engagements in network environments.

Operators may input the formula into transmitter software for use in operational networks. The formula rapidly identifies subchannels that are most suitable for concurrent operation with unlicensed band networks. The agency discussed its new creation at a recent virtual conference.

“This could potentially make communications in the unlicensed bands much more efficient," said Jason Coder, an engineer at NIST.

The formula has been tested via simulation to work with wi-fi networks in indoor environments.