Brig. Gen. William Cole, program executive officer for simulation, training and instrumentation at the U.S. Army, has said that the service branch will launch a project to construct a new cyber training range for offensive and defensive network operations, National Defense Magazine reported Wednesday.

Yasmin Tadjdeh writes Cole added the persistent cyber training environment program aims  to train network operators of the Army Cyber Command and U.S. Cyber Command together.

Construction is underway on the service branch’s new cyber headquarters in Georgia.

The report said the Army sought industry’s input on possible technical, cost and schedule requirements for the  persistent cyber training environment.

Cole noted that service branch also plans to invest in a tactical combat casualty care system designed to help soldiers train on how to treat wounds, according to the report.

The Department of Homeland Security‘s science and technology branch has published an “other transaction” solicitation for the development of cybersecurity tools for U.S. financial systems as part of DHS’ Silicon Valley Innovation Program.

DHS said in a FedBizOpps notice posted Nov. 21 it seeks Financial Services Cyber Security Active Defense ideas and technologies in the areas of intrusion deception, moving target defense, isolation and containment.

The effort comes under DHS’ Next Generation Cyber Infrastructure Apex Program that aims to identify and build  technologies that can work to help secure the country’s critical financial systems and address emerging cyber threats that affect the industry.

NGCI Apex Program will offer technologies and tools for the financial services sector to defend against adversaries that attempt to hack U.S. cyber systems and networks, the department noted.

SVIP works to help investors and entrepreneurs understand DHS’ complex problems as well as offers funding opportunities for technology development efforts that support department missions.

A multinational law enforcement team has launched efforts to dismantle a global criminal network of computer servers called Avalanche.

Avalanche has hosted more than two dozen types of malware and facilitated numerous money laundering campaigns.

The effort was announced in a joint statement Thursday from Leslie Caldwell, assistant attorney general at the Justice Department’s criminal division; Soo Song, acting U.S. attorney of the Western District of Pennsylvania; and Robert Johnson, an FBI special agent.

“The Avalanche network, which has been operating since at least 2010, is estimated to involve hundreds of thousands of infected computers worldwide,” the statement noted.

“The monetary losses associated with malware attacks conducted over the Avalanche network are estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide, although exact calculations are difficult due to the high number of malware families present on the network.”

The operation was launched Wednesday and involves the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania; FBI – Pittsburgh Division; DoJ’s computer crime and intellectual property section; Germany’s public prosecutor and Luneburg police; Europol; Eurojust; and investigators and prosecutors from approximately 40 countries.

The multinational group will work to seize, block and sinkhole more than 800,000 malicious domains as well as conduct searches and arrests in five countries, according to the statement.

Approximately 50 Avalanche servers worldwide has been taken offline.

DoJ plans to release more information on the operation and the Western Pennsylvania victims of Avalanche-based malware attacks.

The final version of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2017 would remove the U.S. Cyber Command under the supervision of the U.S. Strategic Command and establish Cybercom as a unified combatant command, C4ISRNet reported Thursday.

Mackenzie Eaglen, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute’s Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies, said the combatant command designation would provide Cybercom greater coverage in terms of funds, worldwide campaign planning, policy, staff and authorities as well as make cyber a primary mission for the Defense Department, Mark Pomerleau writes.

The compromise FY 2017 defense policy bill that House and Senate conference members approved Tuesday also sets conditions before Cybercom can be allowed to separate from the National Security Agency, according to a report by Joseph Marks for Nextgov.

These include the need for Cybercom to achieve full operational capability by 2018 and certify to congressional armed services panels that Cybercom’s command-and-control systems, weapons and personnel are up to standards, Marks reports.

The compromise defense policy bill would also authorize the DoD secretary to appoint cyber professionals that would ensure the security of Pentagon staff’s personal devices as well as develop standards for the management of “cyber opposition forces” across service branches, according to Nextgov.