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AFRL, Partners Send Spacecraft Flight Experiment to International Space Station
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AFRL, Partners Send Spacecraft Flight Experiment to International Space Station

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate has collaborated with NASA, the Georgia Tech Research Institute and DuPont de Nemours on a scientific cargo that launched aboard a SpaceX spacecraft.

AFRL said Thursday the Dragon cargo spacecraft delivered to the International Space Station the 16 Materials International Space Station Experiment that consists of brand-new spacecraft materials never before tested in space.

The MISSE-16 project has been installed into the ISS’ Materials International Space Station Flight Facility where it will remain for the next six months to collect data for analysis.

“A primary objective of AFRL is to use the real space weather exposure of the ISS to validate simulated space weather exposure of materials on the ground,” said Ryan Hoffmann, AFRL’s MISSE-16 mission manager.

Hoffmann said AFRL and GTRI will investigate selected materials that show potential aerospace, avionics and spacecraft applications in low-Earth orbit.

“The data collected will aid in the development of technology to image spacecraft through the atmosphere using ground-based telescopes and will help to track hazardous space debris that is typically very dim and difficult to keep track of,” said Elena Plis, a senior research engineer at the Electro-Optical Systems Laboratory/Georgia Tech Research Institute.

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GovCon Expert Chuck Brooks: Growing Urgency for Increased Cybersecurity in Healthcare
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GovCon Expert Chuck Brooks: Growing Urgency for Increased Cybersecurity in Healthcare

Chuck Brooks, a highly esteemed cybersecurity leader as well as an influential member of Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Expert program, recently published a feature exploring the impact that cyberattacks are having on the healthcare industry, especially following the recent attack on Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) 111 service.

In his most recent feature article with Cyber Theory, GovCon Expert Chuck Brooks shared that more than 45 million people who were affected by healthcare attacks as well as 93 percent of healthcare organizations have experienced a data breach in the last three years.

Here’s an excerpt from the feature from GovCon Expert Chuck Brooks.

“The criminal hacker focus on healthcare is not surprising,” Brooks explained. “As medical care becomes more networked and interconnected via computers and devices, the digital landscape of health administrators, hospitals and patients, has become increasingly vulnerable.”

He emphasized that from a security perspective, the cybersecurity healthcare landscape has many facets to protect and revealed that technology, process and people are the cornerstones of the healthcare industry as it works to adapt and transform with the influence of cybersecurity.

In addition, Chuck Brooks also discussed the importance of healthcare records and how they’ve been specifically targeted by hackers. Brooks provided a breakdown of the recent compliance and security protocols such as HIPAA or Electronic Health Records (HER) to protect the confidentiality and availability of electronically protected health information.

During the feature, Brooks also highlighted the first step for healthcare organizations is to protect sensitive data by conducting regular security assessments and penetration tests, which also help to mitigate IT misconfigurations and bot threats and identify potential insider threats.

“What it really comes down to is that healthcare is a vital function for our well-being and mortality and is indispensable to both people and the economy,” he detailed. “Investments toward bolstering cybersecurity of all these health-related institutions under potential cyberattacks need to be considered urgent and increased significantly as we are all directly and indirectly at risk.”

You can read all the content from GovCon Expert Chuck Brooks through Executive Mosaic on GovCon Wire.com

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CISA Expands Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog With 10 New Entries
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CISA Expands Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog With 10 New Entries

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has expanded its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog with 10 new items that serve as a frequent malicious cyber actor’s attack vector and threaten the cybersecurity of the federal enterprise.

CISA said Thursday the catalog stemmed from a binding operational directive that seeks to lower the significant risk of known exploited vulnerabilities to federal information and information systems.

Some of the new additions to the catalog are dotCMS Unrestricted Upload of File Vulnerability, Apache APISIX Authentication Bypass Vulnerability, VMware Tanzu Spring Cloud Function Remote Code Execution Vulnerability, WebRTC Heap Buffer Overflow Vulnerability and Apple Sanbox Bypass Vulnerability. Recommended action is to apply updates per vendor instructions.

Federal civilian executive branch agencies are required to address the gaps by deadline to safeguard their networks. Although not required, all organizations are urged by CISA to prioritize timely remediation of vulnerabilities to reduce exposure to cyber attacks.

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Executive Order Establishes CHIPS and Science Act Implementation Priorities
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Executive Order Establishes CHIPS and Science Act Implementation Priorities

President Biden on Thursday signed an executive order to implement the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 that seeks to provide incentives for semiconductor production, research and development efforts.

The EO establishes a steering council and sets six key priorities to facilitate the implementation of the law across the federal government, the White House said Thursday.

National Economic Director Brian Deese will co-chair the CHIPS Implementation Steering Council with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Alondra Nelson, acting director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

The six priorities outlined in the order are protecting taxpayer dollars by implementing compliance and accountability requirements; meeting economic and national security needs; ensuring long-term leadership in the sector; strengthening and expanding regional manufacturing and innovation clusters; catalyzing private sector investment; and generating benefits for a broad range of stakeholders and communities.

The EO will advance these priorities by building domestic capacity that reduces the country’s reliance on foreign production for mature and leading-edge microelectronics, creating a collaborative network for semiconductor innovation and research and shifting financial incentives to maximize private investments in chip production, workers and technologies.

The Department of Commerce unveiled a website, CHIPS.gov, to provide the agency with a channel to communicate related initiatives with the public.

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Stephen Forbes: DARPA’s Mandrake 2 Satellites to Demo Use of Light Beams for Space-to-Ground Communications
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Stephen Forbes: DARPA’s Mandrake 2 Satellites to Demo Use of Light Beams for Space-to-Ground Communications

Stephen Forbes, Blackjack program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, said DARPA plans to test soon the capability of a pair of Mandrake 2 experimental satellites to use lasers to transmit data from space to ground, Breaking Defense reported Thursday.

The announcement came after DARPA demonstrated in May the capability of the two satellites to perform space-to-space data transmission using optical intersatellite links.

Forbes told the publication that Mandrake is meant to “burn down risk as quickly as possible” for OISLs, including those for large constellations of low-Earth orbit small satellites being built by the Space Development Agency.

“Mandrake 2 is a risk reduction for the Blackjack and the proliferated LEO programs. Which is why SBA partnered with us — why this coalition of the willing came together — because to build that proliferated LEO architecture, we need to be able to share data across the satellites,” Forbes said.

“That fundamentally is foundational to what these architectures need to be successful,” he added.

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FCC’s Jessica Rosenworcel Orders Investigation Into Mobile Providers’ Consumer Data Disclosure Compliance
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FCC’s Jessica Rosenworcel Orders Investigation Into Mobile Providers’ Consumer Data Disclosure Compliance

Jessica Rosenworcel, chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission, has directed the FCC’s enforcement bureau to investigate whether mobile carriers comply with the commission’s rules that require them to disclose to consumers how they share and use geolocation data.

Rosenworcel also announced Thursday the release of responses from the country’s top 15 wireless service providers to a request for information issued in July on how their businesses handle and retain sensitive consumer data.

“Our mobile phones know a lot about us. That means carriers know who we are, who we call, and where we are at any given moment. This information and geolocation data is really sensitive. It’s a record of where we’ve been and who we are. That’s why the FCC is taking steps to ensure this data is protected,” Rosenworcel said in a statement.

She also called on consumers to file data privacy complaints via the FCC website in order for the commission to initiate action under the law.

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CISA Urges Critical Infrastructure Sectors to Prepare for Post-Quantum Cryptography Transition
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CISA Urges Critical Infrastructure Sectors to Prepare for Post-Quantum Cryptography Transition

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has released a new insights report outlining the potential impacts of quantum computing systems on the 55 national critical functions that contribute to the U.S. national security.

The CISA Insight report provides actions that critical infrastructure and government network owners and operators could take before pursuing the capabilities of quantum computers, the agency said Wednesday.

CISA encourages that all critical infrastructure owners follow the guidance and the Post-Quantum Cryptography Roadmap to ensure a smooth transition to quantum computers.

The roadmap recommends that organizations conduct an inventory of their current cryptographic technologies, create acquisition policies related to post-quantum cryptography, and educate their workforce about the upcoming transition.

Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and a previous Wash100 Award winner, named the transition to post-quantum encryption a priority in his vision to achieve cybersecurity resilience.

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President Biden Appoints Kimberly Cheatle as Next US Secret Service Director
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President Biden Appoints Kimberly Cheatle as Next US Secret Service Director

President Biden has appointed Kim Cheatle, a more than 25-year veteran of the U.S. Secret Service, to be the next director of the federal law enforcement agency tasked with overseeing protective operations for top U.S. leaders.

Cheatle, who will succeed James Murray in the director role, currently serves as a senior director at PepsiCo North America responsible for managing facilities, personnel and business functions, the White House said Wednesday.

“Kim has had a long and distinguished career at the Secret Service, having risen through the ranks during her 27 years with the agency, becoming the first woman in the role of Assistant Director of protective operations,” Biden said in a statement.

Cheatle was the first woman to be named assistant director of protective operations and held several leadership positions during her nearly three-decade career at the Secret Service, including as special agent in charge of the Atlanta Field Office.

She also served as an assistant director at the Secret Service’s Office of Protective Operations.

In 2021, Biden awarded Cheatle with a Presidential Rank Award in recognition of her exceptional performance.

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New Report Outlines Recommendations to Achieve Space Dominance; Gen. John Raymond Quoted
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New Report Outlines Recommendations to Achieve Space Dominance; Gen. John Raymond Quoted

The Defense Innovation Unit, U.S. Space Force and Air Force Research Laboratory have jointly released a report outlining recommendations to develop a space industrial base that will retain U.S. dominance in commercial, civil and national security space.

The 2022 State of the Space Industrial Base Report recommends that the U.S. conduct innovation and policy reform and increase partnership with the private sector to prevent China from surpassing the U.S. in space superiority.

According to the report, China aims to surpass the U.S. as the dominant space power by 2045 and in order to impede Beijing’s ambitions, Washington needs to accelerate the deployment of commercially-sourced space technologies designed for both civil and national security applications.

“The advantage America enjoys today stems from our space industrial base. We must work together to ensure that it remains a strong, effective, and innovative partner in sustaining American space superiority,” said Gen. John “Jay” Raymond, the chief of space operations and a three-time Wash100 Award recipient.

The report also provides evaluations and recommendations in eight topic areas: the long-term ‘North Star’ vision; launch services; hybrid space communications; in-space transportation and logistics; next-generation power and propulsion; remote sensing and traffic management; policy and finance; and workforce and science, technology, engineering and mathematics education.

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GovCon Expert Chuck Brooks: Companies Lacking Essential Emerging Technologies
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GovCon Expert Chuck Brooks: Companies Lacking Essential Emerging Technologies

Chuck Brooks, a highly esteemed cybersecurity leader as well as an influential member of Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Expert program, recently published a feature exploring the latest and most critical challenges that organizations are facing to innovate and implement emerging technologies in the 4th Industrial Era.

In a feature article with SkyTop Strategies, GovCon Expert Chuck Brooks provided his insight into what the C-Suite and shareholders should know about which emerging technologies will impact the business ecosystem in 2022 and beyond.

Here’s an excerpt from the feature from GovCon Expert Chuck Brooks.

“For companies that want to excel in the new digital economy, the business objectives of reliability, quality, cost-efficiency, and responsive customer service are integral to success,” Chuck Brooks explained. “Industry has spent years developing technologies and processes to meet those objectives and improve operational capabilities.”

In addition, GovCon Expert Chuck Brooks also discussed the impact of each critical aspect that’s impacting our industry, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, robotic process automation (RPA), predictive analytics, 5G as well as other significant areas of development such as 3D printing, blockchain and quantum computing.

He also discussed the importance of protecting user data in all digital transformation efforts as we continue to adapt to the latest emerging technologies. Chuck Brooks emphasized that our most vital and critical infrastructures all operate in a digital environment and things like network, cloud and supply chain security will be paramount in the future.

“The pace of innovation is growing so rapidly that it is becoming exponential as each year passes,” said GovCon Expert Chuck Brooks. “The emerging technology areas I described above are just the tip of the iceberg, as we really are amid a major paradigm shift in applied scientific knowledge.”

You can read all the content from GovCon Expert Chuck Brooks through Executive Mosaic on GovCon Wire.com, including the recent Video Interview that he did specifically discussing cybersecurity and government tech market trends.

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