Jan 13, 2021
Chief data officers (CDOs) in the Defense Department are opening up their data to take advantage of artificial intelligence and machine learning tools that help surface insights and improve decision-making. Some of the legacy concepts around this is my data just naturally change when we start using data to drive some of our senior leader-most decision-making forums, DOD CDO David Spirk said. I think at the department level, we re blasting through some of those legacy cultural tendencies.
Speaking at the ThoughtSpot Beyond 2020 Digital conference in December, Spirk said DOD’s growing data community is helping to “break down barriers that have in the past prevented the sharing of data.”
By Justin Katz
Jan 13, 2021
Russia is the likely culprit of the widespread hack of U.S. networks, a White House task force concluded.
Since the attack, analysts and some administration officials have suggested a Russian intelligence service is behind the attack on SolarWinds Orion product, but the Jan. 5 statement from the Cyber Unified Coordination Group which includes the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the National Security Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is the first time the federal government has explicitly attributed the attack to Russia. This work indicates that an Advanced Persistent Threat actor, likely Russian in origin, is responsible for most or all of the recently discovered, ongoing cyber compromises of both government and non-governmental networks, the statement reads.
By Lauren C. Williams
Jan 13, 2021
The Defense Department and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration announced they plan to issue a challenge to accelerate development of software and telecom technologies for an open 5G stack ecosystem in support of DOD missions.
According to a notice of inquiry posted by NTIA in the Federal Register, today’s open 5G stack community is diverse. Various organizations are working on different parts of the technology stack, and many implementations are custom built, which hinders interoperability.
For DOD, officials said the challenge supports its 5G Initiative to “accelerate the development of the open 5G stack ecosystem in support of Department of Defense missions.”
With the Senate Armed Services Committee prepping to hear the nomination of retired Army General Lloyd Austin to serve as secretary of defense, some lawmakers are concerned about preserving civilian control of the U.S. military.
By Justin Katz
Jan 13, 2021
The Justice Department confirmed its systems were hacked by suspected Russian intelligence agents that exploited a backdoor vulnerability in the SolarWinds Orion IT management software.
Attackers are believed to have accessed around 3% of email inboxes, but not any classified systems, according to DOJ spokesman Marc Raimondi.
DOJ s confirmation comes the day after the White House’s Cyber Unified Coordination Group first attributed the SolarWinds Orion hack to a Russian entity. The group also said it believes fewer than 10 federal agencies were victimized by hackers following the initial breach. As part of the ongoing technical analysis, the department has determined that the activity constitutes a major incident under the Federal Information Security Modernization Act, and is taking the steps consistent with that determination, Raimondi said.