CYBERSECURITY
Entrust | November 08, 2022
Entrust, a global leader in trusted payments, identities and digital infrastructure, has had nine of its cloud and associated support services approved for the G-Cloud Framework. This platform enables public bodies in the UK to procure commodity-based, pay-as-you-go cloud services on government-approved, short-term contracts through an online catalogue called the Digital Marketplace.
This streamlined procurement process supports the UK government’s ‘Cloud First’ policy and is a key component in the government's ambition to operate a cloud-native digital architecture. The Entrust services that are available on the latest iteration of the framework, G-Cloud 13 are as follows:
Entrust nShield as a Service – cloud Hardware Security Modules
Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), as either:
Managed PKI – A bespoke & dedicated PKI without the need for in-house expertise
PKI as a Service (PKIaaS) – Cloud based turnkey PKI
SSL Certificates (through our partner Conosco)
Identity as a Service (IDaaS) – Identity & Access Management with a broad array of authenticators
Managed Certificate Hub – Certificate Lifecycle Management for public and private Certificate Authorities in your enterprise
Managed Root Certificate Authority – high assurance Root of Trust for your PKI
Managed Microsoft PKI – A managed bespoke and dedicated PKI within Azure
Cloud support consultancy – design, onboarding, cryptography and PKI health checks for Entrust G-Cloud services
The need to authenticate the identity of people, systems and things is challenging and growing. With the launch of G-Cloud 13, and the inclusion of these nine services from Entrust, government departments and agencies in the UK Public Sector can leverage these solutions to enable secure transactions. As an annually revised platform, G-Cloud 13 will go live on 9 November 2022 and is due to end at 23:59 on the 8 November 2023.
Specifically, the addition of nShield as a Service to this roster facilitates UK public sector organizations moving their infrastructure into the cloud while maintaining control of their data security with master keys protected in a hardware security module (HSM), as is best practice.
“The UK Government G-Cloud program is a way for public sector organisations to purchase cloud based IT solutions from approved, secure providers. Many of these organisations are looking to move as much of their infrastructure into the cloud as possible and need many of the Entrust cloud solutions to support the security requirements. With Entrust cloud solutions, we give you the capability along with the comfort that, strong controls and governance are consistently applied.”
-Robert Hann, Vice President of Centre of Expertise for Entrust Digital Security Solutions.
Entrust delivers UK Public Sector organisations G-Cloud approved solutions that ensure that you have a robust, secure and scalable combination of solutions to meet your data protection requirements.
This cloud-native framework can help customers who are seeking to reduce their on premises data centre footprint and have more flexibility by replacing big capital outlay with a more predictable and flexible subscription payment model. Furthermore, with a selection of managed and “as-a-Service” solutions from Entrust, customers who are lacking the in-house expertise to manage their identity management or data protection solutions can safely leave it to the experts at Entrust..
About Entrust:
Entrust keeps the world moving safely by enabling trusted experiences for identities, payments, and digital infrastructure. We offer an unmatched breadth of solutions that are critical to enabling trust for multi-cloud deployments, mobile identities, hybrid work, machine identity, electronic signatures, encryption and more. With more than 2,800 colleagues, a network of global partners, and customers in over 150 countries, it’s no wonder the world’s most entrusted organisations trust us.
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EMERGING TECHNOLOGY
Healthy Together | December 14, 2022
On December 6th, the Advanced Technology Academic Research Center (ATARC) awarded Healthy Together and the State of Florida's Department of Health (FDOH) with a Digital Experience Award at their 2022 GITEC Emerging Technology Award Ceremony in Washington, D.C.
The annual ceremony recognizes government initiatives that have made significant contributions in the advancement and implementation of technology innovations.
The Digital Experience Award spotlights government projects that promote exceptional citizen service experiences through the use of technology. ATARC nominates organizations that have radically improved the experience of government and pushed the boundaries to build customer-centric human connections in our digital world.
"We are incredibly proud to have our partnership with FDOH recognized by ATARC. The Digital Experience Award is a powerful validation of the impact we were able to have and our mission to improve collective health and make government more efficient. We are excited to continue to innovate and modernize resident access to government services with our technology."
-Jared Allgood, President of Healthy Together.
While awardees typically come from federal agencies, FDOH was selected because of the widespread success of its roll-out of the Healthy Together mobile platform in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Other 2022 winners include NASA, the Department of Veterans Affairs, ATF, GSA, the U.S. Army and the Marine Forces Cyber Command.
About the Project:
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Florida Department of Health, Division of Disease Control engaged Healthy Together and its cloud-based SaaS Disease Management Platform to support case investigators, deliver timely test results to residents, and automate case investigation processes. With a population of over 21M residents, manual processes at labs and testing providers coupled with heavy demand for testing created significant delays in the time to deliver diagnostic results. Due to the rising number of cases, FDOH sought solutions to scale the response to resident and departmental needs.
The Florida Department of Health partnered with Healthy Together to deploy a case management system and mobile application to deliver real-time test results to residents. Through the application, FDOH was able to successfully deliver over 30M diagnostic results to state residents. As part of the deployment, Healthy Together built and implemented a self-serve, digital case interview based on CDC guidelines and FDOH standards to assist in case investigation. Over 90% of self-serve case interviews were completed within 1 hour of receipt of a positive test result, a staggering 10x increase in speed to deliver services with more contacts elicited than traditional manual methods.
Data captured by the digital case interviews was fed to its auto-scaling AWS hosted case management software that automated data analysis, decreased manual processes and reduced the need for additional hiring. Over the course of the partnership, more than 50% of Florida households utilized Healthy Together's services. Healthy Together has since partnered to help additional states, counties, and tribes to scale and automate other government processes such as Medicaid, SNAP and TANF eligibility, enrollment, & renewal, WIC program management, and behavioral health systems.
About Healthy Together:
Healthy Together is a health technology company that builds SaaS technology for government, education and enterprise. Their technology aids in areas such as disease surveillance, behavioral health management and benefit enrollment for programs like Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and WIC. Healthy Together's mobile application has reached #1 in the App Store Health & Fitness category and has over 225k reviews on the App Store and Play Store with a 4.9/5 star rating.
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GOVERNMENT BUSINESS
Kodiak Robotics | December 07, 2022
Kodiak Robotics, Inc., a leading self-driving trucking company, today announced it has been awarded a $49.9 million, 24-month United States Department of Defense (DoD) agreement to help automate future U.S. Army ground vehicles led by the Army's Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) program. This effort will be in support of vehicles designed for reconnaissance, surveillance, and other high-risk missions.
Through this award, which started in October 2022 and was awarded by DoD's Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) on behalf of the Army's RCV program office, Kodiak will leverage its commercial self-driving software to develop, test and deploy autonomous capabilities for driverless vehicles that further strengthen national security. Kodiak will develop autonomous vehicle technology for the Army to navigate complex terrain, diverse operational conditions and GPS-challenged environments, while also providing the Army the ability to remotely operate vehicles when necessary.
Wartime is extraordinarily complex with high-risk challenges that often result in troops operating near or behind enemy lines. Deploying autonomous vehicles to perform such critical and dangerous tasks has the potential to significantly reduce the risk to troops, while giving them greater access to the information they need in the field. Additionally, the remote driving capabilities Kodiak will develop for the Army will increase the flexibility of these autonomous vehicles, while further reducing risk for soldiers. The project will also provide a technical pipeline that will enable the rapid development and deployment of new autonomous vehicle technologies as they become commercially available.
"I started Kodiak because I believe autonomous technology can save lives, and helping the U.S. Army develop driverless vehicles for the most challenging operating environments fits perfectly with that goal, We are proud to have the opportunity to leverage our cutting-edge self-driving technology for defense applications, and believe our work with DIU and the U.S. Army will both help strengthen national security and hasten our path to commercial deployment. We owe a debt of gratitude to the servicemen and women who step into harm's way to keep us safe; keeping them safe in return is an honor we take seriously."
-Don Burnette, founder and CEO, Kodiak Robotics.
Kodiak Robotics was the only autonomous vehicle company initially selected for this award out of 33 submissions, thanks to its proven leadership in autonomous systems development and commercialization, as well as its intense focus on safety.
In the first year of this effort, Kodiak will build upon its core competency by applying its robust autonomous software stack for Army specific use cases, including future Army vehicles. In year two, the company will implement its autonomous driving system on off-road vehicles capable of traversing complex terrain and operating remotely in unpredictable and austere conditions.
DIU focuses exclusively on adopting and scaling technologies developed by commercial partners to help strengthen U.S. national security by solving critical field challenges faced by the U.S. military. DIU works to identify innovations in six key technology areas where the commercial sector is operating at the leading edge: artificial intelligence, autonomy, cyber, energy, human systems, and space.
While Kodiak Robotics will continue to focus on its core business of building autonomous trucks for use in commercial applications, this project serves as an important extension that helps to propel its innovations forward. This project shows that Kodiak's core technology has multiple use cases, laying the groundwork for future expansion beyond long-haul trucking.
About Kodiak Robotics, Inc:
Kodiak Robotics, Inc. was founded in 2018 to develop autonomous technology that carries freight forward — so people, partners, and the planet thrive. The company is developing an industry-leading technology stack purpose-built specifically for long-haul trucks, making the freight industry safer and more efficient. Kodiak's unique modular hardware approach integrates sensors into a streamlined sensor-pod structure that optimizes for perception, scalability, and maintainability. The company delivers freight daily for its customers across the South, operating autonomously on the highway portions of the routes.
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