Sponsored by Spectra Group
https://tacs.at/Spectra
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30 Jan 20. Royal Signals in cyber wargaming exercise. The first cyber warfare competition has been carried out at the Joint Force Command Battle Labs, part of the Defence College at Shrivenham. Called Exercise Mercury Cypher, the competition set mixed teams of novice and cyber experts difficult cyber warfare challenges to complete under time pressure in a gaming environment.
Around 100 soldiers from across the UK’s Royal Signals took part in the competition, which was carried out as part of the Royal Signals 100 centenary celebrations.
The exercise used a computer programme called Project ARES, which uses AI to create different cyber challenges. The first few days were spent learning the system, then the teams were set different tasks such a defending an imaginary corporation from cyber attack.
Players were scored on speed, accuracy and efficiency, and marked down if they needed hints from the programme to complete their mission. (Source: Shephard)
30 Jan 20. Steadicopter, a leader in the Rotary Unmanned Aerial Systems (RUAS) industry, expands the Black Eagle 50’s uses to include EW missions. The company will present, for the first time at the Singapore Airshow, the lightweight unmanned robotic helicopter’s capabilities for detection, collection and monitoring of cellular and Wi-Fi intelligence.
Commenting on the expanded capabilities, Noam Lidor, Sales & Marketing Director at Steadicopter, said, “Israel’s security industry is made up of companies at the forefront of technology. Thanks to our collaboration with these companies, we were able to extend Black Eagle 50’s capabilities to EW missions by integrating their cellular payload for collecting and detecting cellular identities and RF signals, and their Wi-Fi payload for identifying, detecting and intercepting Wi-Fi broadcasts. These EW capabilities have been added to Black Eagle 50’s existing GPS independence and marine capabilities. Today, Steadicopter provides a comprehensive response for ISTAR, marine, and inland missions.”
The Black Eagle 50 is ideal for naval missions with its robust mechanical and electronic capabilities supporting flight in maritime environmental conditions. In addition, a special inertial navigation system capability enables the continuation of the flight and the mission, without relying on GPS, delivering a significant advantage in GPS-denied areas.
The system has a steady hovering endurance of up to 3 hours and flight endurance of up to 4 hours. At only 27kg, the Black Eagle 50 is extremely lightweight and compact, with a maximum take-off weight of 35Kg, and payload capacity of 5Kg. It has a communication range of up to 150km, depending on the client’s requirements, and a service ceiling of up to 10,000ft. Its total length is just 2540mm, while its maximum air speed is 70 knots (126Km/h) with a cruising speed of 45 knots (81 Km/h).
About Steadicopter Ltd.
Founded in 2005, Steadicopter Ltd. is a revolutionary player in the Rotary Unmanned Aerial Systems (RUAS) industry, specializing in the design, development, and production of rotary tactical UAS. The company delivers exceptional, unprecedented, proven solutions for military, HLS, and civilian applications. It provides full-featured solutions for any in-field requirements enabling vertical take-off and landing, steady hovering and optical vision for day and night in all ISTAR use cases. Steadicopter is ISO-9001/2008 certified for development, manufacturing, marketing and sales.
28 Jan 20. USAF seeks new collection technologies for cyber, SIGINT. The US Air Force (USAF) wants industry input for a new generation of intelligence collection and processing technologies, specifically for operations in the realm of cyber and signals intelligence (SIGINT), according to a recent solicitation issued by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).
“This work is in support of the Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) mission to protect ‘blue’ coalition forces with command, control, computer, and intelligence applications, and to support technologies that will enable SIGINT systems and/or platforms with an improved ability to automatically detect, identify, sort, track, prioritize and reliably classify and more importantly geolocate signals of interest,” AFRL officials wrote in a revised broad agency announcement (BAA) issued 8 January. (Source: Jane’s)
27 Jan 20. Airbus Awarded 5 Major Cyber-surveillance Contracts in France. In 2019, Airbus CyberSecurity won five new contracts with major groups or organisations in the industrial, finance and institutional sectors, some of which are operators of essential services (OIV – Organismes d’Importance Vitale). These contracts concern the surveillance and protection of their information systems and networks from an Airbus CyberSecurity SOC (Security Operations Centre).
With these five new customers, about thirty large firms and organisations now rely on Airbus CyberSecurity France to monitor their IT infrastructures.
In 2019, the National Cybersecurity Agency of France, ANSSI, qualified Airbus CyberSecurity’s French SOC at PDIS (Prestataire de Détection d’Incidents de Sécurité – Security Incident Detection Service Provider) level. Located at Elancourt in the Paris area, the SOC handles more than 3 billion security events every day.
PDIS is the highest security level defined in the category of detection activities. This certification is relevant for French critical national infrastructure organisations identified as OIV, as they are required to monitor their critical information systems only with PDIS qualified services. Airbus runs SOCs in France, UK, Germany and Spain, where it monitors its customers’ digital infrastructure and ensures early detection, containment and remediation of security incidents 24/7. (Source: ASD Network)
28 Jan 20. Thales first to reach highest level of certification possible for mobile ID security software.
- Thales has achieved a major breakthrough in software security technology by reaching the highest level of Common Criteria certification in mobile software history.
- Following the acquisition of Gemalto by Thales, this achievement further strengthens Thales as the undisputed world leader in digital security.
- Governments selecting Thales for their mobile ID initiatives will be able to provide their citizens with best-in-class mobile identity security protecting them against ID thief and guaranteeing data protection and privacy.
Thales, world leader in digital security, is the first company to achieve the highest level (1) of the international security standard ‘Common Criteria’ for their mobile ID software solution. The Gemalto Mobile ID software has demonstrated a level of resistance to the most advanced security penetration tests against mobile applications. This security breakthrough confirms that Thales uses the most innovative and disruptive technologies to protect its mobile ID solutions.
Thales portfolio of digital identities, including “Mobile ID Smart App” and “Digital ID Wallet”, will benefit from the same security by design approach. This means that governments selecting Thales’ digital identity solutions for their mobile and digital ID schemes, will offer their citizens and residents the highest level of software security and protection against ID thief.
The Common Criteria certifications enable an objective evaluation to validate that a particular product or system satisfies a defined level of robustness. It not only provides assurance that the Thales process of specification and implementation of a secure solution has been rigorously conducted, but also that the solution has reached the expected level of trust for final use.
Security tests on the Gemalto mobile ID software were performed by the internationally renowned testing laboratory “Brightsight” under the supervision of the NSCIB (2) (Netherlands Scheme for Certification in the Area of IT Security), in cooperation with of The Netherlands Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Relations.
“By achieving this independent and government-recognized security certification, Thales has set a new landmark for government mobile ID software security. Our mobile-based digital ID solutions are already entrusted and deployed in more than 20 countries around the world. They enable citizens to securely log on to public and private eServices and to smoothly prove who they are online while guaranteeing data protection and privacy.” Youzec Kurp – SVP Identity & Biometric Solutions at Thales
1 Thales Mobile ID Solution reaches Evaluation Assurance Level – EAL 3 augmented with AVA_VAN.3, ADV_FSP.4, ADV_TDS.3, ADV_IMP.1, ALC_TAT.1. The EAL scale enables to verify that products meet the security claims made by vendors and AVA_VAN3 refers to the level of vulnerability analysis.
2 NSCIB is member of the SOG-IS. SOG-IS qualified bodies are one of the most stringent security bodies and benefit from a highly established recognition worldwide. The laboratory “Brightsight” was supervised by TÜV Rheinland Nederland B.V., on behalf of the NSCIB Certification Body.
27 Jan 20. US Air Force BACN crashes in Afghanistan. A US Air Force (USAF) E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) aircraft crashed in Afghanistan on 27 January, footage of the incident posted online appears to show. The modified Bombardier Global 6000 regional jet, which is used by the US military as a communications relay platform for ground troops operating in the mountainous terrain of the Afghan theatre, was shown to have been mostly consumed by fire but still largely intact.
The aircraft can be identified as being a Global 6000 by the position of the engines at the back of the fuselage, and by the tail fin, which was not too badly damaged. (Source: Jane’s)
23 Jan 20. US Navy explores new Advanced Electronic Warfare suite options. The US Navy (USN) has begun to explore options for a next-generation Advanced Electronic Warfare (ADVEW) suite to equip in-service F/A-18E/F Super Hornet carrier-borne strikefighters and a follow-on naval tactical aircraft. In a request for information (RFI) released on 15 January, US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) said it was seeking industry input as part of a market survey supporting the ADVEW acquisition strategy and materiel solution analyses. According to NAVAIR, the ADVEW suite is intended to serve as a replacement for the AN/ALQ-214A(V) radio frequency (RF) countermeasures and AN/ALR-67(V) radar warning receiver (RWR) systems to be deployed on board the F/A-18E/F Service Life Modification Block II, the F/A-18E/F Block III, and a next generation of naval aviation platforms. RFI responses are intended to provide information on notional concepts, development/delivery schedules, subsystem technology maturity, and forecast cost/schedule/performance to inform NAVAIR’s initial planning and cost estimation. (Source: Jane’s)
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Spectra Group Plc
Spectra Group (UK) Ltd, internationally renowned award-winning information security and communications specialist with a proven record of accomplishment.
Spectra is a dynamic, agile and security-accredited organisation that offers secure Hosted and Managed Solutions and Cyber Advisory Services with a track record of delivering on time, to spec and on budget.
With over 15 years of experience in delivering solutions for governments around the globe, elite militaries and private enterprises of all sizes, Spectra’s platinum and gold-level partnerships with third-party vendors ensure the supply of best value leading-edge technology.
Spectra was awarded the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise (Innovation) in 2019 for SlingShot.
In November 2017, Spectra Group (UK) Ltd announced its listing as a Top 100 Government SME Supplier by the UK Crown Commercial Services.
Spectra’s CEO, Simon Davies, was awarded 2017 Businessman of the Year by Battlespace magazine.
Founded in 2002, the Company is based in Hereford, UK and holds ISO 9001:2015, ISO 27001:2013 and Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation.
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