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DHS Convenes Govt Council for Election Systems Security
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DHS Convenes Govt Council for Election Systems Security


DHS Convenes Govt Council for Election Systems SecurityThe Department of Homeland Security has convened a new government council for election infrastructure security in cooperation with the Election Assistance Commission, the National Association of Secretaries of State and election officials across U.S.

DHS said Saturday the Government Coordinating Council for the Election Infrastructure Subsector is comprised of three members from the federal government and 24 representatives from state and local governments.

The department uses the GCC structure for each critical infrastructure sector to help coordinate the security efforts of government and private sector entities.

The GCC framework is designed to implement a mechanism for threat information sharing between the federal government and council members.

DHS identified election infrastructure as a subsector of the Government Facilities critical infrastructure sector in January to prioritize cybersecurity assistance to state and local election officials and to show that election systems are entitled to critical infrastructure protections from the U.S. government.

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DoD Eyes FedRAMP-Based Process for Acquisition of Mobile App Security Services
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DoD Eyes FedRAMP-Based Process for Acquisition of Mobile App Security Services


DoD Eyes FedRAMP-Based Process for Acquisition of Mobile App Security ServicesThe Defense Department plans to roll out a new process for its acquisition of mobile application security services based on the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program model, Federal News Radio reported Monday.

John Zangardi, acting DoD chief information officer, signed the mobile application security requirements memorandum which was designed to establish a baseline standard for applications as well as advocate reciprocity throughout the military.

“The [National Information Assurance Partnership] developed the baseline set of security requirements for organizations engaged in locally evaluating mobile applications … These requirements are achievable, testable, and repeatable and provide a basis for technical evaluation and risk determination by Authorization Officials,” said Zangardi in the memo.

Zangardi directed DoD agencies and service branches to utilize the “Requirements for Vetting Mobile Applications from the Protection Profile for Application Software” NIAP profile and tasked the Defense Information Systems Agency to create a portal for the new process within the next 90 days.

DoD service branches and agencies will also assess applications from the mobile application portal and other commercial stores prior to its development and acquisition to determine potential security threats.

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ONC to Host Server Vulnerability Discovery Challenge
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ONC to Host Server Vulnerability Discovery Challenge


ONC to Host Server Vulnerability Discovery ChallengeThe Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has introduced a prize competition that aims to determine potential vulnerabilities from the implementation of open source Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources servers.

Steven Posnack, director of ONC’s standards and technology office, wrote in a blog post published Oct. 10 the agency seeks participants who can leverage current industry standards and best practices to create FHIR-compliant servers as part of the Secure API Server Showdown Challenge.

ONC plans to award a total of $50,000 in prizes to winners of the challenge that will the Server Build Stage and the Vulnerability Discovery Stage.

Phase 1 will involve the development and submission of FHIR servers for evaluation based on a technical judging criteria and the participants’ availability to take part in Stage 2.

The second stage of the challenge will comprise teams for the Discovery Track that will work to determine potential vulnerabilities from FHIR servers and the Server Track that will review submissions from the Discovery teams.

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DHS Issues New Email, Website Security Directive for Federal Agencies
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DHS Issues New Email, Website Security Directive for Federal Agencies


DHS Issues New Email, Website Security Directive for Federal AgenciesThe Department of Homeland Security has released a new directive that seeks to help federal agencies protect emails and websites from cyber threats through the adoption of security protocols.

DHS will direct federal agencies to deploy the Domain-Based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance – DMARC – protocol within the next 90 days under the new binding operational directive in order to prohibit the potential use of government email domains by phishers and scammers in cyber attacks, the Global Cyber Alliance said Monday.

Jeanette Manfra, assistant secretary for DHS’ office of cybersecurity and communications, announced the new agency directive at a GCA-hosted cybersecurity roundtable.

“It is critical that U.S. citizens can trust their online engagements with all levels of the federal government,” Manfra said at the event.

The new rule also requires agencies to use Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure or HTTPS for all federal websites within the next 120 days in an effort to secure connections between the government and citizens.

“If the U.S. government can deploy DMARC across more than 1,300 domains, then we should expect the same of the companies on which we depend,” said Phil Reitinger, GCA president and CEO.

Agencies should also configure their web-facing mail servers to offer the STARTTLS protocol as well as their second-level agency domains to have valid DMARC/Sender Policy Framework records within 90 days.

STARTTLS seeks to facilitate encryption of emails in transit, while SPF aims to speed up detection of unauthorized emails by enabling a sending domain to watermark emails.

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Army to Develop PNT Open Architecture System
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Army to Develop PNT Open Architecture System


Army to Develop PNT Open Architecture SystemThe U.S. Army has begun to develop an open architecture system that would use plug-and-play sensors to facilitate navigation for soldiers deployed to GPS-limited areas, C4ISRNET reported Monday.

The Scorpion positioning, navigation and timing system is designed to employ modular hardware and software through a tactical computer and has only been tested on commercial platforms.

“It will be a sensor fusion filter that will allow us to hook up any sensor to the filter; and the filter will understand what the sensor is, what the data is and how to integrate that into a single PNT solution,” said Adam Schofield, chief at the emerging technologies branch at the Army’s Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center.

The Army is working with the Air Force Institute of Technology on the project, which falls under the Defense Department‘s Initiative for Open Systems Architecture for PNT.

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Ryan McCarthy: Army to Form Cross-Functional Teams for Modernization Push
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Ryan McCarthy: Army to Form Cross-Functional Teams for Modernization Push


Ryan McCarthy: Army to Form Cross-Functional Teams for Modernization Push
Ryan McCarthy

Ryan McCarthy, acting secretary of the U.S. Army, has said the military service will establish a command of cross-functional teams by summer 2018 to support modernization efforts across the branch.

Each CFT under the “modernization command” will aim to increase the quality and process of fielding materials and equipment to warfighters, the branch said Friday.

The group will report to the Army undersecretary and vice chief of staff.

McCarthy noted that CFTs will also seek input from commercial and academic organizations on how to accelerate the technology development process.

The Army aims to modernize its operations through “centralized planning” and “decentralized execution” strategies that are based on doctrine, metrics, research, warfighter tests and feedback, leader insight and acquisition process.

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Air Force’s F-35A to Undergo Cold Weather Tests
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Air Force’s F-35A to Undergo Cold Weather Tests


Air Force's F-35A to Undergo Cold Weather TestsThe U.S. Air Force will conduct a series of tests to evaluate if the conventional takeoff-and-landing variant of Lockheed Martin-built F-35 aircraft can withstand harsh weather conditions in Alaska.

The service branch said Friday it aims to demonstrate the F35A‘s capacity to land at a runway condition reading scale of 7 and validate a Norwegian drag-chute as part of cold weather tests at Eielson AF Base.

“The 354th Civil Engineer Squadron and 354th Operations Support Squadron try to keep our runway at an RCR of 12 or better during the harsh winters, but often are below that,” said Capt. Daniel Campbell, director of mission support for the 354th Fighter Wing F-35 Program Integration Office.

“We need the lower RCR certification to ensure the F-35A can operate throughout our winters,” Campbell added.

The Air Force awarded contracts to multiple companies to support projects such as construction of a propulsion maintenance hangar and maintenance field training detachment facilities in preparation for the arrival of F-35A units at Eielson.

A pair of F-35As along with nearly 3,500 airmen, contractor personnel and their families are scheduled to arrive at the military base by 2020.

Navy Decommissions USS Ponce Afloat Forward Staging Base
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Navy Decommissions USS Ponce Afloat Forward Staging Base

Navy Decommissions USS Ponce Afloat Forward Staging BaseThe U.S. Navy has decommissioned its afloat forward staging base USS Ponce after more than 46 years of naval service.

The military branch said Saturday it commissioned USS Ponce in 1971 as the final amphibious transport dock ship of the Austin class and refurbished the vessel into an AFSB platform in 2012 to support various missions of U.S. and allied forces.

The ship, nicknamed “Proud Lion,” was originally scheduled for decommissioning six years ago.

Ponce AFSB crew supported the U.S. 5th Fleet and Central Command’s mine countermeasures operations as well as international efforts that involved launch, recovery and sustainment of other vessels, aircraft and riverine boats.

The ship completed 27 deployments across the Arabian Gulf, North Atlantic, Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Mediterranean regions.

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DHS, NASS Aim to Facilitate Election Security Comms Through New Council
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DHS, NASS Aim to Facilitate Election Security Comms Through New Council


DHS, NASS Aim to Facilitate Election Security Comms Through New CouncilThe Department of Homeland Security met in Georgia with members of the National Association of Secretaries of State and other election executives to discuss the creation of a new council that seeks to facilitate communications between states and DHS in the event of a future cyber attack, the Washington Examiner reported Sunday.

The plan to establish a new government coordinating council came months after DHS designated election systems as critical infrastructure in January in response to Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential elections.

“The other importance of the coordinating council actually being formed, is that there is so much activity on the federal level regarding legislation, I think this will give us, hopefully, a venue to help us inform members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives that states are taking an active role and we are doing a lot to prepare ourselves for the 2018 elections and beyond,” said Connie Lawson, NASS president and Indiana secretary of state.

Lawson said attendees also tackled the need to establish a chain of communication, objectives and deliverables for the proposed council at this weekend’s meeting, which was also attended by Elections Assistance Council representatives.

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OPM: Global Satisfaction Index in 2017 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey Reached 64%
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OPM: Global Satisfaction Index in 2017 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey Reached 64%


OPM: Global Satisfaction Index in 2017 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey Reached 64%The Office of Personnel Management has conducted the 2017 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey and found that this year’s global satisfaction index rose by 3 percentage points to 64, up from 61 percent in 2016.

OPM said Thursday it polled 486,105 federal employees from approximately 80 agencies for the 2017 FEVS report and found that government-wide employee engagement reached a score of 67 percent, an increase of 2 percentage points over the previous year.

The overall new inclusion quotient score that evaluates employee diversity and collaboration in agencies reached 60 percent, the highest score since OPM conducted the survey in 2013.

“FEVS results point the way to stronger workplaces,” said Kathy McGettigan, acting OPM director.

“The ongoing actions of federal leadership and employees are key to building on the positive gains we have made over the last few years, while addressing areas in need of improvement,” she added.

The agency noted that nearly 100 percent across FEVS items stayed the same or reflected a hike over last year and among the areas that showed the largest increases include organizational satisfaction, management communication and supervisory relationships.

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