JTEG Technology Forum: Cyber Security; Overcoming Challenges to Innovation

AGENDA

1300-1305:      Welcome – Steve McKee (OSD-MR)

1305-1309:      Administrative Notes – Debbie Lilu (NCMS)

1309-1335:      Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII) – Howard Grimes (CyManII)

1335-1400:      NSA Commercial Solutions for Classified (or Unclass) Sustainment Applications – Howie Marotto (EWI)    Presentation

1400-1425:      Assurant: “Model-based Cyber Analysis and Report Generation Toolkit” – Drew Stephenson (KBSI)  Presentation

1425-1450:      “MxD Cybermarket Place” – Laura Robb Elan  (MxD)  JTEG Cyber Marketplace Introduction

1430-1455:      “Hermes’ Sprint” Update – Steve McKee (OSD-MR)

1455-1500:      Wrap-Up – Steve McKee (OSD-MR)

 

Minutes

Event:  On 26 April 2022, the Joint Technology Exchange Group (JTEG), in coordination with the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS), hosted a virtual forum on “Cybersecurity: Overcoming Challenges to Innovation”.

Purpose:  The purpose of this forum was to discuss the challenges and solutions, research and development, and implementation of cybersecurity innovations in support of DoD sustainment.

Welcome:  Ray Langlais (OSD-MR) welcomed everyone to the forum and previewed the agenda. Steve McKee, OSD-MR, provided a brief introduction of the presenters and emphasized the significance, challenges and impact that cybersecurity has on innovation within the DoD sustainment community.

Administrative:  This was an open forum. The presentations, along with questions and answers, were conducted through Adobe Connect. Two of the presentations were available online during the forum.  Efforts continue to get all the presentations cleared to post on the JTEG website at: https://jteg.ncms.org/. A separate audio line was used. We had approximately 60 participants from across DOD, industry, and academia join in the forum.

Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII) – Howard Grimes, CyManII, described the cybersecurity challenge and stated that manufacturing companies are the number ONE target for cybersecurity attacks to date. He described the CyManII vision as connecting cybersecurity and energy efficiency to create manufacturing solutions that keep America’s companies competitive and protected. He described several achievements to include creating an integrated technical approach through an expansive membership network and have developed and deployed first instantiations of secure mobile access on legacy environments and for cyber secure supply chain networks, developing robust mathematical modeling strategies for computing “Cybersecurity Energy Emissions Quantification” (CEEQ), and publishing a thorough “Cybersecurity for Manufacturing Roadmap” outlining a national strategy to protect and secure American manufacturing.

NSA Commercial Solutions for Classified sustainment applications – Howie Marotto (EWI), discussed how Estonia has become a leader in cybersecurity and the use of Blockchain, and subsequently, as of 2020, 99% of public services in Estonia were digitized.  The Estonian government has one of the highest trust ratings from its citizens in the world, and Russia has not successfully “hacked” the Estonians at any scale since the inception of blockchain for governance. He described how blockchain works and provided examples of who in industry is using blockchain. He then described how Commercial Solutions for Classified Program (CSfC) is an NSA-approved Program of Record that employs “trusted integrators” and that a video is available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlGnXD8_RsI.

Assurant: “Model-based Cyber Analysis and Report Generation Toolkit” – Drew Stephenson, KBSI, described Assurant as a modeling tool to assess cyber vulnerabilities, analyze attack paths, & quantify risk of platform IT. Key benefits include a flexible and repeatable framework for modeling and assessing cyber threats and vulnerabilities of systems, compatible with existing MBSE tools and data, reduced man-hours and resources by automating manual assessment processes and documentation, and the ability to quantify cyber risk and evaluate security controls of systems for mission assurance based on risk. Assurant licenses are free to Government users and available on NIPR and SIPR. There are currently 500+ users across the USAF, Army, and NSA.

MxD Cybermarket Place” – Laura Robb Elan (MxD), described the MxD Cybermarket Place as a one-stop shop for all your cybersecurity needs for manufacturers of all sizes. It includes low-cost self-paced assessments, guided recommendations on tools and services to address gaps, security policy templates, and digital tools. She walked through an example of assessment questions and guidance, followed by assessment results and recommendations, and concluded with a couple screen shot examples.

“Hermes’ Sprint” – The Coordinated Implementation of Sustainment Technology – Steve McKee, OSD-MR, provided a status on the “Hermes’ Sprint” effort underway. On 22 April the Sustainment Technology Executives (STEs) were briefed and agreed to adopt the USAF RSO Technology Pipeline approach for the sustainment technology recommendations. There are ongoing meetings on the three identified gaps and learning with the currently identified use case is well underway and the cross-Service partnering is progressing as hoped. The next engagement with the STEs is scheduled for 3 June with multiple updates.

Q&A – A Q&A occurred after each briefer finished their presentation. Questions and answers will be posted on the JTEG website with these minutes.

Closing Comments: Steve McKee thanked the presenters and participants for their attendance and all the work being done to support cybersecurity innovations in support of DoD sustainment operations.

 

Action Items: 

  • Obtain copies of remaining cleared presentations once they are approved to post to a public website, and post to the JTEG website at https://jteg.ncms.org/.

 

Next JTEG Meeting: The next scheduled JTEG virtual forum is 7 June 2022, 1:00 – 3:00 pm EST. The topic is “Cold Spray Repair”.

 

POC this action is Ray Langlais, rlanglais@lmi.org, (571) 633-8019