The Office of Personnel Management’s inspector general has assessed OPM’s compliance with the Federal Information Security Modernization Act and found that over 18 of its information technology systems operate without valid authorizations.

OPM IG said in a Nov. 9 report that it performed the audit at the agency’s Washington headquarters from April 2016 to September 2016.

The IG said OPM’s continuous monitoring and security incident programs have achieved Level 2 in the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency maturity model and that the agency has made changes to its vulnerability management initiative and created an inventory of network devices, servers and databases.

The report also cited a “high turnover rate of critical positions” within OPM’s data security management structure and that the agency has failed to establish a risk executive function.

OPM has not evaluated contingency plans for most of its IT systems in fiscal year 2016 and has not required multi-factor authentication to facilitate access to systems in compliance with a memorandum issued by the Office of Management and Budget.

Other security issues found in the audit include OPM’s failure to implement the agency’s lifecycle policy for all system development programs; lack of configuration baselines for all operating platforms; lack of security training among personnel; expired data security agreements between contractor-run information systems and OPM; and overdue milestones and plan of action for majority of OPM systems.

Kerry Long, program manager at the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, has said humans have the capability to change the future of the cyber domain, C4ISRNet reported Friday.

“If you think about it, cyber space is really the one environment that we’re fighting in that we can actually change,” Long said Wednesday at the Federal Times-hosted CyberCon conference in Washington.

“We created it in the first place – by ‘we’ I mean [the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency],” he added.

Mark Pomerleau writes Long noted that DARPA and IARPA have started to invest in efforts that seek to defend the “next internet,” which he says could develop into a “massive cloud,” from potential cyber vulnerabilities.

Long said that the intelligence community needs to practice caution in the cyber space as various entities across the world use the same cloud infrastructure to share data, Pomerleau reports.

He also cited the need for developers to address the challenges associated with big data analytics, the report added.

The Defense Department has implemented a Wi-Fi network at the Pentagon as a result of efforts to consolidate DoD’s information technology services under a Defense Information Systems Agency-controlled shared services organization, Federal News Radio reported Monday.

Jared Serbu writes Brig. Gen. Brian Dravis, director of the Joint Service Provider, said that savings from the consolidation of ad-hoc IT organizations within the building paid for the Wi-Fi project.

The department also updated its headquarters’ key IT assets as part of a physical plant modernization push known as “PenRen” which covers thousands of miles worth of cabling and consolidated data centers, Serbu reports.

The report said JSP will soon be integrated into DISA and be responsible for various Pentagon IT functions such as the management of nearly 500 IT contracts and about $1 billion worth of IT infrastructure.

Dravis told the station that JSP aims automate and virtualize the building’s IT infrastructure.

The U.S. Army plans to hold a groundbreaking ceremony on Nov. 29 for a new cyber headquarters at Fort Gordon, Georgia that will consolidate the service branch’s cyber, capability development, education and training operations.

Army Secretary Eric Fanning and Army Cyber Command lead Lt. Gen. Paul Nakasone will attend the ceremony that will kick off a more than two-year construction effort, the service branch said Wednesday.

The Army Corps of Engineers selected B.L. Harbert International in August to lead the project under a potential two-year, $85.1 million contract.

B.L. Harbert will build new facilities for cyber operations and command-and-control functions through May 2018 as part of the project’s first phase.

Phase two of construction will cover a facility to house cyber protection team operations and is scheduled to be completed in 2019, the Army noted.

The branch’s new cyber hub is designed to accommodate more than 1,200 cyber soldiers and civilians and will be ready for occupancy in 2020.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has found that the U.S. industry should address needs for measurement science and technology demonstrations to boost growth in advanced manufacturing and save at least $100 billion per year.

NIST said Thursday it funded separate economic studies on additive manufacturing; advanced robotics and automation; roll-to-roll manufacturing; and smart manufacturing.

“Gaps in the technology infrastructure — including the lack of reliable measurement and test methods, scientifically based standards, and other formal knowledge and tools — limit advanced manufacturing’s further development and adoption,” said NIST Economist Gary Anderson.

“Our studies emphasize that full economic impact will only be realized if all technical needs are met, and all stakeholders regardless of size, not just large manufacturers, can share in the rewards,” Anderson added.

The four studies identified 5 to 10 technical barriers to the adoption of each manufacturing technology; assessed the impacts of addressing the challenges; and determined needs that should be met to eliminate the obstacles.

NIST’s studies estimate annual cost savings of up to $4.1 billion; $40.1 billion for advanced robotics and automation; $400 million for roll-to-roll manufacturing; and $57.4 billion for smart manufacturing.

Researchers said small- and medium-sized manufacturers should have access to similar methods, tools and knowledge as larger manufacturers to achieve cost savings.