The U.S. Digital Service has introduced an application prototype designed to help citizens apply for multiple benefits through a single portal, the Government Technology magazine reported Wednesday.

Ben Miller writes Mollie Ruskin, a designer at USDS, and Ryan Burke, a senior policy adviser to President Barack Obama and director of the TechHire initiative, launched the alpha version of the app at the Code for Summit held Wednesday in California.

The prototype site is a template designed to help local government benefits administrators tailor their enrollment apps for benefits processing based on their requirements and does not share or store personal information.

The app prototype version seeks to help users apply for healthcare coverage, such as Medicaid and health insurance, as well as food assistance like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Ruskin and Burke have also sought feedback on the app during the event, according to the report.

Jeh Johnson, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas Donohue have called on businesses to use information and resources from DHS and the Chamber to support cyber, economic and national security programs.

Johnson and Donohue wrote in a joint guest post published Thursday on The Hill that the Chamber and DHS work together to promote safe cybersecurity practices among businesses from all sectors across the U.S.

They said businesses should adopt principles outlined in the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Cybersecurity Framework and participate in DHS’s information sharing efforts such as the Automated Indicator Sharing program.

Business leaders should also regard cybersecurity as a valuable investment and add cybersecurity into risk management plans while employees should take responsibility for online actions and safety, Johnson and Donohue added.

Johnson and Donohue also urged Congress to take further measures to help DHS address growing cyber threats as well as potential large-scale, physical consequences of cyberattacks.

NASA has combined its reconfigurable flight computing platform with a Navigator-built GPS flight receiver to develop new technology as part of efforts to address future deep space navigational challenges and demonstrate X-ray communications capacities in space.

The agency said Friday it will deploy two Navcube units to the International Space Station in 2018 as one of several experiments on an external pallet to demonstrate navigation and processing capacity as well as aim to provide timing data for an X-ray communications experiment.

“Because we added the ability to process modernized GPS signals, NavCube has the potential to significantly enhance performance at low, and especially, high altitudes, potentially even to the area of space near the moon and lunar orbits,” said Luke Winternitz, chief architect at Navigator.

“We knew that processing speed from SpaceCube and the tracking capability of Navigator could be a powerful combination… The next task was to figure out how to make it … more flexible mission applications,” said Barry Geldzahler, chief scientist for NASA’s Space Communication and Navigation program.

NavCube will also provide a Modulated X-ray Source that generates X-ray pulses to support the XCOM demonstration which covers one part of the Neutron-star Interior Composition Explorer mission.

Reps. Frank Pallone (D-New Jersey) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois) have called on the Federal Trade Commission to oversee manufacturers’ efforts to secure connected devices and protect consumers from cyber attacks.

Pallone and Schakowsky told FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez in a joint letter published Thursday that FTC should urge manufacturers to patch vulnerabilities and require consumers to change default passwords during device setup to prevent botnet attacks.

They added the commission should also also warn consumers on security risks posed by unchanged default passwords on IoT devices in light of the distributed denial of service attack that affected access to multiple websites on Oct. 21.

“The FTC has an obligation to offer security warnings and make information on changing passwords easily accessible to consumers,” Pallone and Schakowsky said.

Forty percent of respondents in a survey said they are not confident with IoT devices’ safety and capacity to secure personal information while 50 percent did not change default passwords on their home routers, according to the two lawmakers.

Disruptions similar to the recent DDoS attack are likely to become more common and more botnets could take advantage of default passwords if device manufacturers do not implement security measures, Pallone and Schakowsky added.

The Education Department has unveiled a $680,000 competition that calls upon participants from the virtual reality, video game developer and educational technology communities to design new types of simulations to help boost career and technical skills.

The Department said Wednesday that participants of the EdSim Challenge will be asked to submit concepts for immersive simulations designed to prepare students for the 21st century workforce.

EdSim will also look to support the development of computer-generated virtual and augmented reality educational experiences that will integrate existing and future technologies with various skill-building content, the department noted.

“We encourage developers from all disciplines to answer our call and help define the future of applied learning,” said Johan Uvin, acting assistant secretary for career, technical and adult education at the Education Department.

The department noted students who have participated in digital learning simulation, such as virtual and augmented reality and 3D simulation environments, for science, technology, engineering and mathematics learning recorded a 23 percent higher achievement rating compared to non-digital learners.

Interested participants can submit simulation concepts until Jan. 17, 2017 and a multidisciplinary panel of judges will evaluate received submissions and select up to five finalists that will advance to the “Virtual Accelerator” phase of the challenge.

The department added that selected finalists will each receive $50,000 and gain access to expert mentorship to support the further development of their respective concepts as well as its simulation prototype.

The remainder of the $680,000 prize money will be awarded to the EdSim challenge winner along with additional sponsor prizes from IBM, Microsoft, Oculus and Samsung.