PENETRATION TESTING
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT: Whitehouse Renews Call for Cyber IG. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) is looking to establish a cybersecurity inspector general with the authority to probe federal networks for weaknesses. A cyber IG, Whitehouse argues, would be a way to recruit cybersecurity experts who would prefer to focus on penetration testing and other white hat activities, rather than toil in one of the more than 70 IG offices around government. Read more
[FCW.COM]
IoT: Security For Embedded Electronics. One of the biggest challenges for embedded devices and systems, especially those employed in the Internet of Things, is adequately protecting them from increasingly sophisticated hacking. This is a new tool for criminal enterprises, and a very lucrative one because it can be done remotely with little fear of being caught. Even when hackers are caught, they rarely are prosecuted, which has not gone unnoticed by criminal enterprises. A lack of reprisal has allowed them to recruit some of the best and brightest programmers. Read more.
[SEMIENGINEERING.COM]
ELECTIONS: Senator Calls on Voting Machine Makers to Detail How They’ll Prevent Hacks. One of the Senate’s main cybersecurity proponents wants assurances that voting systems in the U.S. are ready for their next major threat and he’s going straight to the hardware makers to get it. In a letter, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden — an outspoken member of the Senate Intelligence Committee — called on six of the main voting machine manufacturers in the U.S. to provide details about their cybersecurity efforts to date. The request comes on the heels of emerging details around Russia’s successful attempts to hack election systems in many states. Find out more
[TECHCRUNCH.COM]
COMMUNICATIONS: Secure Communications Across Radio and Cell Networks. To help eliminate the communications problems that plague first responders, Lockheed Martin has teamed with Blue Cedar to enable secure communications across multiple devices. Also intended for military or remote users, Lockheed’s Universal Communications Platform (UCP) hub bridges communications across land mobile radios, voice-over-IP, smartphones and other networks, allowing interoperability between multiple types of secure radio and cellular communications. The UCP Communicator app can be downloaded to commercial smartphones, expanding secure communications to users without access to radio equipment. Read more
[GCN.COM]
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NOW ON SLIDESHARE: Tech Update Summary from Blue Mountain Data Systems October 2017 https://www.slideshare.net/BMDS3416/tech-update-summary-from-blue-mountain-data-systems-october-2017.
IT SECURITY SUPPORT: Blue Mountain Data Systems is actively involved in implementing FISMA and NIST standards with Federal Civilian Agencies. Due to our extensive experience in this area, Blue Mountain has developed processes and organizational techniques to help ensure security deliverables are completed on time, and performed in the most efficient manner possible. We ensure that NIST-800-53 control requirements are treated consistently during definition, analysis, implementation, auditing, and reporting phases of a system. Find out more about Blue Mountain Data Systems IT Security Support Services. Call us at 703-502-3416.
BLUE MOUNTAIN DATA SYSTEMS HAS THE EXPERIENCE: 1994 to Present – U.S. Dept. of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration. Responsible to the Office of Technology and Information Systems for information systems architecture, planning, applications development, networking, administration and IT security, supporting the enforcement of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act — ERISA. Within the EBSA, Blue Mountain is responsible for design, development and support for its various enforcement database management systems, as well as all case tracking and customer service inquiry systems. Blue Mountain also provides IT security services to the EBSA, in the form of FISMA Assessment and Authorization, System Security Plans, Risk and vulnerability assessments, monitoring and investigation support. Read more.
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