Marcel Lettre, undersecretary of defense for intelligence, has said the Defense Department pursues artificial intelligence, autonomy, automation, deep machine learning and human-machine teaming in efforts to drive cyber innovation, DoD News reported Saturday.

Jim Garamone writes Lettre told the Reagan National Defense Forum in California that innovation plays a significant role in the military’s strategy and operational constructs to address cyber threats.

Letter added cyber threats involve “a continuum of activities potentially ranging up to the risk of significant attacks on national infrastructure that would warrant a national response.”

He noted DoD is particularly concerned about threats from China, Russia, North Korea and Iran.

The report said he is also worried about the use of internet to influence events or the environment such as the Islamic State militant group’s social media activities.

NASA has awarded grants worth up to $500,000 each to 13 universities to research and develop early-stage technology platforms for up to three years under the agency’s Space Technology Research Grants Program.

The space agency selected 13 research proposals that cover technologies in various areas, such as additive manufacturing, electric propulsion, parachute inflation dynamics, telescope and optical components as well as autonomous planning for human spaceflight, NASA said Saturday.

“NASA’s Early Stage Innovations grants provide U.S. universities the opportunity to conduct research and technology development to advance NASA’s scientific discovery and exploration goals,” said Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator of the space technology mission directorate at NASA.

Awardees include:

• Arizona State University
• California Institute of Technology
• Carnegie Mellon University
• Georgia Institute of Technology
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Ohio State University
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• Stanford University
• University of California, Irvine
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• University of Pittsburgh
• University of Texas at Austin
• Vanderbilt University

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.