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KC-46A Tanker Now Usable for F-15, F-16 Aircraft in USTRANSCOM; Brig. Gen. Ryan Samuelson Quoted
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KC-46A Tanker Now Usable for F-15, F-16 Aircraft in USTRANSCOM; Brig. Gen. Ryan Samuelson Quoted

The KC-46A Pegasus tanker can now refuel all F-15 and F-16 aircraft variants for U.S. Transportation Command's operations, through a recently approved interim capability release.

Gen. Mike Minihan, who leads Air Mobility Command, authorized the aerial refueler's third interim capability release on Wednesday, AMC said Friday.

“The KC-46 can now support 62 percent of all receiver aircraft that request air refueling support from USTRANSCOM,” said Brig. Gen. Ryan Samuelson, AMC's deputy director of strategy, plans, requirements and programs and lead for the KC-46 Cross-Functional Team. 

The third ICR decision follows the first one in July that authorized the aircraft's Centerline Drogue System, and the second one in August that allowed Pegasus to refuel B-52, C-17 and fellow KC-46 units.

AMC follows an incremental approach in implementing KC-46's ICR plan with no specific timeline. The aerial refueler has taken part in over 6,000 missions so far.

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William Schaefer: Amyx Grows Cybersecurity Portfolio Through New DLA Awards
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William Schaefer: Amyx Grows Cybersecurity Portfolio Through New DLA Awards

Amyx has received several new awards from the Defense Logistics Agency and a classified defense customer, expanding the company’s cybersecurity portfolio.

Recent awards include DLA Cybersecurity Policy and Oversight Support Services for Operational Technology Support (CPOSS-OT), DLA Cyber Vulnerability Management Risk Assessment and DLA Cyber Assurance Operational Technology and Information Technology Support, the company said Monday.

Additionally, Amyx will support a classified defense customer through cybersecurity engineering, operational technology and infrastructure support services.

“These awards are a result of our focused investment to secure operational technology, industrial control systems, and critical infrastructure,” said Amyx CEO and President, William Schaefer.

He added, “At Amyx, we have some of the sharpest minds collaborating through our Communities of Interest (COI) to ensure that we remain at the forefront of innovation to assist our customers with their most challenging security issues.”

Through the new DLA awards, Amyx will conduct site surveys, identify capabilities, perform system tracking and implement Access Control Policy to analyze data on the agency’s critical infrastructure systems. 

Under the DLA’s Cyber Vulnerability Management Risk Assessment and CPOSS-OT contracts, Amyx will draft operational technology policies, conduct risk assessments and provide a wide range of OT and IT support services.

The new awards build on the more than 20-year partnership between Amyx and the DLA, and Schaefer noted that the company is looking forward to helping the agency advance their cybersecurity capabilities and modernization goals.

Earlier this year, Amyx was awarded two new task orders under the DLA J6 Enterprise Technology Services (JETS) contract, bringing the company’s total number of task orders under the contract to more than 30.

The company has also been recognized multiple times in The Washington Post’s annual list of best places to work in the greater Washington, D.C. area.

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National Guard Officer Lt. Col. Jody Ogle Joins CISA as Cybersecurity Adviser
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National Guard Officer Lt. Col. Jody Ogle Joins CISA as Cybersecurity Adviser

Col. Jody Ogle, director of communications and cyber activities for the Air National Guard, has been appointed to advise the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on cyber matters.

Ogle was the chief information officer and J6 director for the West Virginia National Guard over a span of six years. The officer supported both Air and Army National Guard components in this role.

He also held executive-level cybersecurity and financial roles for the 130th Airlift Wing under West Virginia’s Air National Guard.

The state of West Virginia also employed him as a senior programmer analyst from July 2003 to January 2006. In this role, he designed and developed software applications to support the state’s auditor and treasurer.

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ColdQuanta’s Quantum Research as a Service Division Begins Custom Ion Trap System Project for Oak Ridge National Labs
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ColdQuanta’s Quantum Research as a Service Division Begins Custom Ion Trap System Project for Oak Ridge National Labs

ColdQuanta has begun work under its first Quantum Research as a Service Division project to build a Custom Ion Trap System for the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Labs (ORNL).

The newly established QRaaS division, which operates alongside ColdQuanta’s Quantum Computing and Cold Atom Technology groups, will create an ion trapping system that utilizes a modular design to enable rapid testing of cryogenic electronics, system integration strategies and ion trap architectures, the company said Monday.

Max Perez, general manager of Quantum Research as a Service (QRaaS) for ColdQuanta said, “ORNL’s cryogenic ion trapping systems are the perfect type of project for ColdQuanta’s Quantum Research as a Service division because it furthers the adoption of quantum in familiar areas like computing, networking, and simulation.”

The company’s Custom Ion Trap System will leverage experimental hardware, system integration of vacuum hardware and trapped ion-utilizing experimental architectures to advance quantum research, drive quantum adoption at the federal level and enhance applications such as computing, timekeeping, networks and communications.

ColdQuanta’s ion trapping system will address known cryogenic system vacuum performance and noise issues with enhancements like a macroscopic vacuum chamber, an atomic source, thermal links, trapping electronics, a compact helical resonator and active and passive vacuum pumping mechanisms.

Recently, ColdQuanta was chosen to participate in the White House Summit on Quantum Industry and Society, a roundtable discussion with industry leaders and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in response to the Biden Administration’s identification of quantum computers and sensors as a critical technology in the nation’s future.

Perez additionally noted that the project with ORNL will further the QRaaS division’s mission of supporting government agencies and enterprises through the research, development and implementation of breakthrough quantum technologies.

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Robert Wood: CMS to Adopt Security-Oriented Standard for Software Bill of Materials
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Robert Wood: CMS to Adopt Security-Oriented Standard for Software Bill of Materials

Robert Wood, chief information security officer at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), said that the CMS has started to lay the groundwork for how the agency incorporates a security-oriented software bill of materials into information systems, Nextgov reported Friday.

Wood told his audience at an Advanced Technology Academic Research Center-hosted event Thursday that adopting the CycloneDX model will support CMS' DevSecOps authorization and verification system, dubbed BatCAVE.

The object model covers an application's metadata, components, services, dependencies and compositions, according to the CycloneDX website.

CMS' move to implement the standard is part of its efforts to comply with a May cybersecurity order from the White House requiring a formal supply chain record of software parts from government suppliers.

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Treasury Counters Ransomware With Sanctions Compliance Guidance, Trend Analysis; Wally Adeyemo Quoted
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Treasury Counters Ransomware With Sanctions Compliance Guidance, Trend Analysis; Wally Adeyemo Quoted

The Department of the Treasury’s office of foreign assets control has released guidance outlining sanctions compliance best practices in the virtual currency industry as part of efforts to counter ransomware threats.

The brochure from OFAC provides an overview of sanctions requirements and best practices for technology companies, wallet providers, miners, exchangers and other operators in the sector and calls on industry stakeholders to integrate elements and controls in the guidance document into their sanctions compliance programs.

The department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued a report, which found that ransomware poses a major threat to the public, financial sector and businesses.

The Ransomware Trends in Bank Secrecy Act Data report from FinCEN analyzed suspicious activity reports related to ransomware from Jan. 1 to June 30 and found that the average monthly amount of reported ransomware payments filed was approximately $100 million.

FinCEN uncovered 68 ransomware variants reported in SAR data for transactions during the first half of 2021 and found that Phobos, Avaddon, DarkSide, Conti and Revil/Sodinokibi were the most commonly reported ransomware variants.

“Treasury is helping to stop ransomware attacks by making it difficult for criminals to profit from their crimes, but we need partners in the private sector to help prevent this illicit activity,” said Wally Adeyemo, deputy secretary of the Treasury.

FinCEN’s Financial Trend Analysis also discovered 177 convertible virtual currency wallet addresses used for ransomware-associated payments and identified ransomware money laundering typologies.

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Navy to Update Anti-Submarine Warfare Training Systems
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Navy to Update Anti-Submarine Warfare Training Systems

The U.S. Navy has moved forward with its follow-on efforts to modernize ocean and shore equipment used to train military personnel in anti-submarine operations.

Increments II and III of the Navy's Undersea Warfare Training Range (USWTR) recapitalization and expansion projects will focus on updating sensors, electronics and facilities situated in the Pacific and Caribbean regions, Naval Air Systems Command said Friday.

USWTR systems are designed to help warfighters monitor surface or subsurface targets and offer a realistic training environment for military vessel and aircraft operators.

The branch awarded L3Harris Technologies a $393 million contract in August to support the installation of the second and third increments of underwater training infrastructure.

For Increment I, the company helped the Naval Aviation Training Systems and Ranges program office install subsystems located off the coast of Florida.

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NIST to Solicit Input on Potential Parameters, Goals for Supply Chain Security Framework; Jon Boyens Quoted
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NIST to Solicit Input on Potential Parameters, Goals for Supply Chain Security Framework; Jon Boyens Quoted

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is working on a supply chain security framework for the information and communications technology industry and plans to issue a request for information to seek input about goals, principles and potential parameters for the new framework, Federal News Network reported Thursday.

“We really want the stakeholders to tell us where they think the biggest bang for the buck is, or the moonshot,” said Jon Boyens, deputy chief of NIST’s computer security division. 

NIST plans to address industry concerns when it comes to sharing sensitive supply chain security data with the government.

“One of our big questions I think we’ll put in the RFI is how to get a trust mechanism similar to what we’re doing in the software world: artifacts, evidence to achieve greater trust, to achieve greater assurance in the supply chain without sacrificing intellectual property,” Boyens said.

NIST has unveiled “recommended minimum standards” for software code testing since the release of the cybersecurity executive order in May and is collaborating with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on labeling initiatives to help consumers determine the security of software and internet of things devices.

Supply Chain Cybersecurity: Revelations and Innovations

ExecutiveBiz, sister site of GovConDaily and part of the Executive Mosaic digital media umbrella, will host a virtual event about securing the supply chain on Oct. 26. Visit ExecutiveBiz.com to sign up for the “Supply Chain Cybersecurity: Revelations and Innovations” event.

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CISA Warns of Water, Wastewater Infrastructure Security Threats
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CISA Warns of Water, Wastewater Infrastructure Security Threats

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Security Agency (NSA) and the FBI issued a joint advisory warning that threat actors are targeting hardware and software that support drinking water and wastewater infrastructure operations. 

CISA said Thursday that malicious cyber threats to information and operational technology networks, systems and devices could affect the sector's potable water delivery wastewater management efforts.

The alert states that cybercriminals are spearphishing personnel, exploiting unsupported and outdated operating systems and software, and capitalizing on control system devices with vulnerable firmware in an attempt to compromise facilities.

In the advisory, CISA listed five cyber incidents that occurred within the water industry between March 2019 August 2021 and attributed sector-specific intrusions to vulnerabilities associated with insider threats from employees with improperly managed credentials and ransomware attacks.

To defend against such threats, the agency and its federal partners recommended operators to conduct monitoring and adopt various mitigation practices related to remote access, networks safety systems, and planning and operational processes.

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White House Seeks to Advance Equity in Science and Technology With Ideation Challenge; Eric Lander Quoted
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White House Seeks to Advance Equity in Science and Technology With Ideation Challenge; Eric Lander Quoted

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has unveiled an ideation challenge meant to gather insights from the public about how to drive equity and inclusion in science and technology. 

The Time is Now: Advancing Equity in Science and Technology Ideation Challenge kicked off Thursday, Oct. 14th, on the Challenge.gov website and will run through Nov. 19 to collect ideas that could help incite actions and other efforts in the field of science and tech, the White House said Thursday.

“America’s future depends on science and technology like never before, and to address the extraordinary opportunities and challenges we face — to our health, our planet, our economic prosperity, and our national security — the United States will need to draw on all of its assets, chief among them our unrivaled diversity,” said Eric Lander, the president’s science adviser and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

The challenge marks the second phase of OSTP’s Time is Now: Advancing Equity in Science and Technology program and does not come with a monetary prize.

“We need everybody to be able to participate in and contribute to science and technology because different experiences and perspectives are the bedrock of new scientific and technological insights, because having everybody on the team is essential to America’s global competitiveness in the 21st century, and, because it’s the right thing to do,” added Lander.

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