NAC-ISSA will resume in person lunches with the April Sponsor, MarsSuite. This SIEM/asset discovery/vulnerability management/risk management tool is an essential part of your security compliance management and a great addition to your CMMC suite of solutions.  Rosies will be catering.

Register here if you plan to attend in person. There is another registration for this event if you prefer to view the demo virtually.

Location: Radiance Technology, 310 Bob Heath Drive, Huntsville, AL

Start Time: 11:30AM End Time: 12:30PM

Registration Closes On: 4/20/2021

BSides Huntsville will be presented by NAC-ISSA on February 5-6, 2021. BSides Huntsville is the conference for those that work in the trenches of Cybersecurity. This is the opportunity for you to engage in fierce discussions about the next big ideas or the worst product you've ever seen, but in a friendly and informal setting.

This will be BSides's 7th year in the Rocket City and they intend to make it a great virtual event. All the BSides volunteers are working hard to put together an educational and exceptional virtual experience. Virtual meeting expands the possibility to include more training, workshops, talks, capture the flag, or moderated panels. So if you are just getting started, trying to level up or are already a mad scientist of Cyber Security looking for the next project, go ahead and grab your ticket, there is a hard limit and once they are gone there will be no more. Visit the BSides Huntsville NAC-ISSA site to register for the event.

CMMC stands for “Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification”. The CMMC will encompass multiple maturity levels that ranges from “Basic Cybersecurity Hygiene” to “Advanced/Progressive”. The intent is to incorporate CMMC into Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) and use it as a requirement for contract award. The official website can be found at https://www.acq.osd.mil/cmmc/

This past week, several Cyber Huntsville Board members were on a TEAMS call with the creator of the CMMC, Katie Arrington. She provided an overview of the Cyber Resiliency Project that included online training modules and CMMC guide.

• Training: https://projectspectrum.io/#!/pilotProgram
• CMMC Guide: https://projectspectrum.io/#!/abtcmmc

The DOD is planning to migrate to the new CMMC framework in order to assess and enhance the cybersecurity posture of the Defense Industrial Base (DIB). The CMMC is intended to serve as a verification mechanism to ensure appropriate levels of cybersecurity practices and processes are in place to ensure basic cyber hygiene as well as protect controlled unclassified information (CUI) that resides on the Department’s industry partners’ networks.

Ms. Arrington is asking for input into the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement: Assessing Contractor Implementation of Cybersecurity Requirements (DFARS Case 2019-D041) https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/09/29/2020-21123/defense-federal-acquisition-regulation-supplement-assessing-contractor-implementation-of available for public comment by November 30^th.  

We encourage all Cyber Huntsville members, and the entire Tennessee Valley community, to submit comments to the CMMC/DFARS Interim Rule.

Alabama A&M University will be hosting the 2020 NASA Space Apps Hackathon Challenge this year on October 2-4. The event will be held virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Dr. Pearson at Alabama A&M would like to invite interested members of Cyber Huntsville and Cyber Huntsville member companies, other academic institutions and partners to serve as either a judge for the competition, or serve as a mentor for the teams participating in the challenge. The mentor will provide assistance to the team by answering questions and providing guidance on completing the challenges.  

The judging will take place on Sunday October 4^th from 12pm to 2:30pm. The mentors will be needed for both Saturday the 3^rd and Sunday the 4^th. NASA will soon be providing Dr. Pearson more details on judging and mentor responsibilities. As soon as he receives them, these details will be provided.

Register Here: https://2020.spaceappschallenge.org/locations/huntsville-al-at-alabama-am/

Contact Dr. Ed Pearson at ed.pearson@aamu.edu for questions.

DC Blox recently held an event with Huntsville Utilities on August 28th, 2020.  The panel discussed why the partnership between DC BLOX and Huntsville Utilities is so important to Huntsville businesses.  The event can be viewed here: https://vimeo.com/453820063

Simple Helix is partnering with the North Alabama Chapter of the Information Systems Security Association (NAC-ISSA) to host a virtual discussion panel event. During the event, the CMMC discussion will be examined through the lens of the subcontractors that are currently working towards CMMC compliance. A panel of 3 small contractors and subcontractor representatives will be moderated by a Simple Helix Subject Matter Expert (SME) as they elaborate and discuss their journey to compliance.

The speakers:
• Moderator: Scott McDaniel – Vice President of Technology, Simple Helix
• Panel Member: Josh Reinoehl – Technical Manager, Canvas Inc.
• Panel Member: Lloyd Sanders – CTO, Offset Strategic Services
• Panel Member: Michael Rawls – GIS PM/AFSO/ITPSO, Ethic Tech

The subs will be asked questions like:
• Why did you decide to work towards CMMC compliance now?
• What are some of the hurdles you’ve been able to overcome regarding CMMC?
• What are the tools you’ve chosen to use to become compliant and why?
• How has this new compliance standard changed the way you operate?

Date – Tuesday, September 15, 2020
Time – 11:30am to 12:30pm

To explore these questions and gain insight on the subcontractor’s journey to CMMC Compliance, please register.

From: Info-Security Magazine 9 July 2020

A suspected ransomware attack has caused the temporary closure of an Alabama county’s computer network.

Chilton County implemented a shutdown after being targeted by a suspected ransomware attack on the morning of July 7. County Commission Chairman Joseph Parnell announced the incident on the social media network Facebook.

“The incident has caused a temporary disruption to the County’s computer records systems including the tag office and probate court records,” wrote Parnell. 

“Persons needing services provided by our various departments should check with the clerks in the particular department before coming to the courthouse to ensure that needed records are accessible.”

As a result of the attack, local records required by the courthouse in the performance of its regular services have been rendered unavailable. 

In a phone interview with the Clanton Advertiser, Parnell said an investigation was underway to determine the severity of the cyber-incident. The county servers and computers in several departments have been closed in a bid to limit the spread of any malware infection that may have occurred. 

“Our databases and computers are shut down while the cyber guys are trying to figure out if and what the extent was of the intrusion,” said Parnell.  

The chairman said that until the severity of the attack had been diagnosed, the county was assuming the worst.

Parnell said: “It could be very minor, and it could be very serious, but we have to treat this like it is extremely serious until we know otherwise.”

A cyber-attack was suspected when the county’s computers started behaving in a way that was out of character. Parnell said that Chilton’s employees noticed “their computers were not functioning normally. They were sluggish, and some of their applications looked different.”

Employees reported the discrepancies to the local IT team, which then shut down the county’s internal network.  

“We have a cyber-policy in place and have hired a firm of professional IT people out of New York that is going to come in and assess the system,” Parnell said.

The cyber-branch of the FBI and the Alabama Attorney General’s Office have been notified of the incident.

https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/cyberattack-downs-alabama-countys/

The Senate Armed Services Committee wants to add new responsibilities to the Pentagon’s Principal Cyber Advisor as part of a broader effort to ensure cyber forces can meet new challenges.

 

The committee released a summary June 11 of the annual defense policy bill for fiscal year 2021. The bill, which passed the committee June 10, also adopts several recommendations made by the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, a bipartisan organization created in 2019 to develop a multipronged U.S. cyber strategy.

 

Among items the panel approved is giving the Principal Cyber Advisor more responsibility related to integration and coordination to ensure that DoD’s cyber policies are coherent and cohesive.

 

Here is a breakdown of other key cyber-related items in the bill:

 

Buying power

The bill includes several provisions to improve the way DoD procures cyber equipment as well as to improve the Congressional oversight of those programs.

The solarium commission had recommended DoD write a report on the direction and control of budgets related to cyber forces. New language in the Senate committee’s version takes that recommendation and is aims at ensuring flexibility and agility to control acquisition.

 

The bill also requires the Department of Defense to kick off pilot programs, demonstrations and/or plans in several areas. These include speed-based cybersecurity capability metrics to measure DoD performance and effectiveness, interoperability and automated orchestration of cybersecurity systems, addressing network timing and inconsistencies and integration of user activity monitoring and cybersecurity systems.

 

The draft bill also includes two provisions aimed changing how some cyber funds are spent. First, it authorizes increased funds for Air Force and Army operation and maintenance funds to provide the cyber mission force with additional resources to access, operate, and train as required by increased operational demands. Those increases are $25 million and $5 million, respectively.

 

Second, the bill allows Defense leaders to use these funds for rapid creation, testing and fielding of cyber capabilities to respond more quickly to threats.

This builds upon last year’s defense policy law that codified use of these funds for “rapid creation, testing, fielding, and operation of cyber capabilities that would be developed and used within the 1-year appropriation period.” The Air Force is already using these funds in this manner.

 

Off the bench

The bill includes several provisions focused on National Guard and Reserve cyber forces. DoD has typically thought of those teams as critical resources at the state, local and national level to augment the active duty force.

 

Specially, the Senate bill takes two recommendations from the solarium commission requiring DoD to conduct a review of National Guard responses to cyberattacks and an evaluation of cyber reserve force options to provide a surge capability.

 

The bill also authorizes a pilot program to prepare the Guard to provide cyber assistance remotely in the event of cyberattacks.

 

Assessing the force

The committee also takes aim at a couple of force structure issues. One recommendation from the solarium commission included requiring DoD to provide a force structure assessment in the quadrennial cyber posture review.

 

Solarium commissioners, and members of Congress, are concerned that U.S. Cyber Command’s cyber mission force might not be prepared to take on today’s threats.

The bill also aims to help DoD better retain its cyber talent. Specifically, Senators want to give Cyber Command the same hiring authority for technical talent as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Strategic Capabilities Office or the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center. This will allow Cyber Command to offer more competitive pay.

 

Additionally, the bill requires a provision requiring more regular updates to Congress on cyber operations while also requiring an assessment of gaps between the cyber mission force and cybersecurity service providers.

 

The Senate panel’s bill will next head to the full Senate before being reconciled with the House version. The House Armed Services will mark up its version June 22.

The Senate Armed Services Committee wants to add new responsibilities to the Pentagon’s Principal Cyber Advisor as part of a broader effort to ensure cyber forces can meet new challenges.

The committee released a summary June 11 of the annual defense policy bill for fiscal year 2021. The bill, which passed the committee June 10, also adopts several recommendations made by the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, a bipartisan organization created in 2019 to develop a multi-pronged U.S. cyber strategy.

Among items the panel approved is giving the Principal Cyber Advisor more responsibility related to integration and coordination to ensure that DoD’s cyber policies are coherent and cohesive.

Following is a breakdown of other key cyber-related items in the bill:

Buying power

The bill includes several provisions to improve the way DoD procures cyber equipment as well as to improve the Congressional oversight of those programs.

The solarium commission had recommended DoD write a report on the direction and control of budgets related to cyber forces. New language in the Senate committee’s version takes that recommendation and is aims at ensuring flexibility and agility to control acquisition.

The bill also requires the Department of Defense to kick off pilot programs, demonstrations and/or plans in several areas. These include speed-based cybersecurity capability metrics to measure DoD performance and effectiveness, interoperability and automated orchestration of cybersecurity systems, addressing network timing and inconsistencies and integration of user activity monitoring and cybersecurity systems.

The draft bill also includes two provisions aimed changing how some cyber funds are spent. First, it authorizes increased funds for Air Force and Army operation and maintenance funds to provide the cyber mission force with additional resources to access, operate, and train as required by increased operational demands. Those increases are $25 million and $5 million, respectively.

Second, the bill allows Defense leaders to use these funds for rapid creation, testing and fielding of cyber capabilities to respond more quickly to threats.

This builds upon last year’s defense policy law that codified use of these funds for “rapid creation, testing, fielding, and operation of cyber capabilities that would be developed and used within the 1-year appropriation period.” The Air Force is already using these funds in this manner.

Off the bench

The bill includes several provisions focused on National Guard and Reserve cyber forces. DoD has typically thought of those teams as critical resources at the state, local and national level to augment the active duty force.

Specially, the Senate bill takes two recommendations from the solarium commission requiring DoD to conduct a review of National Guard responses to cyber attacks and an evaluation of cyber reserve force options to provide a surge capability.

The bill also authorizes a pilot program to prepare the Guard to provide cyber assistance remotely in the event of cyber attacks.

Assessing the force

The committee also takes aim at a couple of force structure issues. One recommendation from the solarium commission included requiring DoD to provide a force structure assessment in the quadrennial cyber posture review.

Solarium commissioners, and members of Congress, are concerned that U.S. Cyber Command’s cyber mission force might not be prepared to take on today’s threats.

The bill also aims to help DoD better retain its cyber talent. Specifically, Senators want to give Cyber Command the same hiring authority for technical talent as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Strategic Capabilities Office or the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center. This will allow Cyber Command to offer more competitive pay.

Additionally, the bill requires a provision requiring more regular updates to Congress on cyber operations while also requiring an assessment of gaps between the cyber mission force and cybersecurity service providers.

The Senate panel’s bill will next head to the full Senate before being reconciled with the House version. The House Armed Services will mark up its version June 22.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/fifth-domain/home/~3/dbdo6OD_yKI/

Powered by HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Urban Engine and Acclinate Genetics

Description: The HudsonAlpha Tech Challenge is a unique event to engage the development community and take on challenges in life sciences using business strategy, software development and technology.

Goal: Inspire creativity through collaboration, and energize the current and next generation of problem-solvers to conceive and construct innovative solutions to biotech challenges.

$5,000 in prize money is up for grabs!

Date: March 6-8, 2020

Location: HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Paul Propst Center, 800 Hudson Way NW, Huntsville, AL

Cost: $10/participant

GET YOUR TICKETS HERE:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2020-hatch-hudsonalpha-tech-challenge-tickets-84916091315