Police authorities in Germany have collaborated with Interpol, Europol, U.S. Justice Department and the FBI to take down an international cyber network that works as a delivery platform to launch malware attacks and money mule schemes worldwide.

The Avalanche network has been in operation since 2009 and has caused approximately $6.4 million in damages associated with cyber attacks on internet-based banking systems in Germany, Europol said Thursday.

Investigators and prosecutors from 30 countries collaborated to dismantle the network through a Nov. 30 operation that led to the arrest of 5 individuals, seizure of 39 servers, search into 37 premises and closure of 800,000 domains through the use of the sinkholing process.

Sinkholing is a method that works to redirect traffic between a criminal network and infected computers to servers operated by a law enforcement agency or an information security firm.

“Avalanche has been a highly significant operation involving international law enforcement, prosecutors and industry resources to tackle the global nature of cyber crime,” said Europol Director Rob Wainwright.

The operation has also put 221 servers offline through abuse alerts to hosting providers.

Other organizations and agencies that were involved in the dismantling operation include Eurojust, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, German Federal Office for Information Security, FKIE, Registrar of Last Resort and Shadowserver Foundation.

The Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity has released a report that outlines six imperatives to ensure security of the digital economy.

The commission said in the report published Thursday that the government and industry should work together to defend and safeguard digital networks and the information infrastructure, as well as facilitate investments to protect the digital economy from security threats.

The document cites the need to prepare consumers to grow in the digital age, establish cyber workforce capabilities, ensure a secure and competitive digital economy and help the government to operate securely in the digital age.

The commission has called on public and private sectors to facilitate joint collaboration prior, during and after a cyber attack as well as develop a risk management process in order to respond and recover from such attacks.

Companies, government, educational institutions and individuals should consider how to “incentivize appropriate cybersecurity behaviors and actions” and identify those who will oversee the development of cyber standards, according to the document.

The report also calls for the identification of research and development efforts needed to advance cybersecurity and method to project the number of cyber professionals required by the economy.

The White House established the commission in April within the National Institute of Standards and Technology as part of the Cybersecurity National Action Plan that President Barack Obama launched in February.

NASA has proposed a new concept that seeks to shorten the duration of first manned mission of the Orion spacecraft to eight days based on the analysis of risks associated with the planned first crewed flight, Space News reported Friday.

Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for human exploration and operations at NASA, said at a Nov. 30 meeting of the NASA Advisory Council in California that the Exploration Mission 2 has been designed “to be appropriate with the risk we’re willing to take” and marks the first time that the space vehicle’s life support platform will be used.

Jeff Foust writes Gerstenmaier said the multi-translunar injection free minimum mission concept for EM-2 aims to send the space vehicle and its Exploration Upper Stage into an elliptical orbit at an apogee of approximately 217,000 miles for a day.

Orion would use its service module engine after its split from the EUS in order to reach the moon and go around it without going into orbit and then leave for Earth through a “free return” trajectory that does not require another engine burn, Gerstenmaier said.

He added that the EM-2 mission, which includes an option for an extended stay of up to 21 days, would help facilitate manned missions in cislunar space on succeeding flights, Foust reports.

The U.S. Army has broken ground on a new facility at Fort Gordon in Georgia designed to combine the service branch’s cyber, education, training and capability development operations.

Army Secretary Eric Fanning and Lt. Gen. Paul Nakasone, who became head of the Army Cyber Command and Second Army in October, attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the Army Cyber Command Complex on Nov. 29, the military branch reported Thursday.

Fanning said the new facility seeks to maintain the military branch’s readiness and serve as a “warfighting platform for cyber space operations.”

Other officials who attended the event include Sgt. Maj. William Bruns of the Army Cyber Command; Maj. Gen. John Morrison Jr., commanding general of the Army Cyber Center of Excellence and Fort Gordon; Hardie Davis Jr., mayor of Augusta, Georgia; Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, Army’s chief of engineers and commander of the Army Corps of Engineers; and John Garlington, president of facility contractor B.L. Harbert International.

The Army expects the project’s first phase to conclude in May 2018 and the second phase in early 2019.

The new cyber complex is scheduled to be operational in 2020 and will house over 1,200 cyber servicemembers and civilian employees.