Emerging Technology
PR Newswire | August 24, 2023
Umbra, a leader in advanced space radar technology, announced it has been selected by AFWERX for a SBIR Phase II contract in the amount of $1.25 million focused on Space-Based Moving Target Indication (MTI) to address the most pressing challenges in the Department of the Air Force (DAF). Umbra will leverage its market leading wide-bandwidth, affordable space systems, uniquely operating in paired flight, to develop and demonstrate Maritime and Ground MTI (MMTI and GMTI) capabilities. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and AFWERX have partnered to streamline the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) process by accelerating the small business experience through faster proposal to award timelines, changing the pool of potential applicants by expanding opportunities to small business and eliminating bureaucratic overhead by continually implementing process improvement changes in contract execution. The DAF began offering the Open Topic SBIR/STTR program in 2018 which expanded the range of innovations the DAF funded and as of August 9, 2023, Umbra accelerated its journey to create and provide innovative capabilities that will strengthen the national defense of the United States of America.
"With the end of the JSTARS program, Umbra understands the national imperative to develop a multi-domain replacement capability with a strong space-based element," said Jason Mallare, Vice President of Government Programs and Strategy. "Commercial space systems which can be developed and rapidly deployed offer a differentiated and robust method to contribute to this critical mission need. Umbra is committed to partnering with AFWERX, the broader DAF, as well as other DoD and IC stakeholders. We intend to bring the best Umbra has to offer, including affordable spacecraft and ground infrastructure, and market leading SAR technology."
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Air Force, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.
About Umbra
Umbra is a technology company that offers intelligence data as a service to commercial and government customers. Our cutting-edge products help customers solve complex business and security challenges. Umbra is a U.S.-owned and operated company headquartered in Santa Barbara, California, and has a presence in Austin, Texas, and Washington, D.C. For more information, visit https://umbra.space.
About Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)
Sole organization leading the planning and execution of U.S. Air Force & U.S. Space Force science & technology programs. Orchestrates a world-wide government, industry & academia coalition in the discovery, development & delivery of a wide range of revolutionary technology. Provides leading-edge warfighting capabilities keeping air, space and cyberspace forces the world's best. Employs 10,800 military, civilian and contractor personnel at 17 research sites executing an annual $4B budget. For more information, visit: www.afresearchlab.com.
About AFWERX
The innovation arm of the DAF and a directorate within the Air Force Research Laboratory brings cutting edge American ingenuity from small businesses and start-ups to address the most pressing challenges of the DAF. Employs approximately 325 military, civilian and contractor personnel at six hubs and sites executing an annual $1.4B budget. Since 2019, has executed 4,671 contracts worth more than $2B to strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base and drive faster technology transition to operational capability. For more information, visit: www.afwerx.com.
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Emerging Technology, Cybersecurity
PR Newswire | July 11, 2023
Leidos, a FORTUNE® 500 science and technology leader, today announced the addition of Rancher Government Solutions (RGS), a complete open software stack for teams adopting containers, as an Emerging Technology Partner to the Leidos Alliance Partner Network (LAPN). Together, Leidos and RGS will address the unique and strict security and operational needs of the U.S. government and military as it relates to application modernization, containers and Kubernetes. LAPN drives innovation through a vast network of the world's leading technology companies and leverages significant expertise to provide solutions that deliver customer mission success.
"Leidos is pleased to welcome Rancher Government Solutions to the Leidos Alliance Partner Network," said Derrick Pledger, Leidos Chief Information Officer. "We have worked together to develop edge-to-cloud architectures, execution patterns and secure Kubernetes methodologies. These will enable rapid capability deployments and at-scale systems modernization in support of U.S. government mission-owners across the defense, intelligence and health domains. We look forward to driving continuous modernization as well as helping our shared customers deliver mission outcomes on behalf of the nation."
"Rancher Government Solutions is honored to be among the select group of technology companies chosen to be part of the Leidos Alliance Partner Network," said Sima Shahin, RGS Regional Vice President, Federal System Integrators. "It demonstrates that our commitment to delivering secure, interoperable, open-source Kubernetes and cloud native technologies to the U.S. government in a validated way has paid off. Together with Leidos, RGS will continue to advance mission success through digital transformation and application modernization."
About Rancher Government Solutions
Rancher Government Solutions is specifically designed to address the unique security and operational needs of the US Government and military as it relates to application modernization, containers and Kubernetes. Rancher is a complete open source software stack for teams adopting containers. It addresses the operational and security challenges of managing multiple Kubernetes clusters at scale, while providing DevOps teams with integrated tools for running containerized workloads.
About Leidos
Leidos is a Fortune 500® technology, engineering, and science solutions and services leader working to solve the world's toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, civil, and health markets. The company's 46,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $14.4 billion for the fiscal year ended December 30, 2022. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com.
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Emerging Technology, Cybersecurity
PR Newswire | August 18, 2023
Axiad, a leading provider of organization-wide passwordless orchestration, today announced a new Unified Credential Management System (UCMS) package calledPasswordless for Air Gapped and Critical Environmentsto meet the phishing-resistant requirements of The White House Executive Order (EO) 14028. This package brings passwordless authentication and end user self-service capabilities to air gapped and critical infrastructure environments that integrate Microsoft Security solutions. Overall, the package helps government agencies as well as critical infrastructure and defense industrial base (DIB) organizations maximize security and end-user acceptance and minimize security overhead.
In the United States, critical infrastructure systems continue to be a top target for cybercriminals. In fact,Microsoft reportedthat critical infrastructure cyberattacks doubled in 2022 from 20% to 40% of nation-state-sponsored attacks. Because of this, the U.S. government, via EO 14028 on improving the nation's cybersecurity, has mandated security measures, including strong passwordless multi-factor authentication (MFA), for government agencies and is strongly recommending the use of this technology for critical infrastructure.
In response to this growing need, Axiad's Passwordless for Air Gapped and Critical Environments provides a seamless way for organizations to integrate government-grade, phishing-resistant passwordless authentication as well as key functional and operational support into on-premises air gapped environments.
The new package provides full interoperation with a range of Microsoft products – including Microsoft Active Directory Federation Services and Microsoft Certificate Authority – to ensure authentication is highly secure and consistent and customers get maximum value out of their existing environments. Additionally, it provides credential management and self-service credential enrollment and account recovery (CEAR), which are critical capabilities due to the high costs or the complete lack of on-site IT support in air gapped environments.
"Organizations with air gapped and critical infrastructure environments need passwordless authentication and a range of physical and platform authenticators to help prevent cyber-attacks," said Jerome Becquart, chief operating officer at Axiad. "With this new package, Axiad is the first company to provide all these elements plus the critical missing ingredient – self-service authentication management, including enrollment and account recovery – and bring them to the on-premises Microsoft ecosystem."
Axiad's Passwordless for Air Gapped and Critical Environments provides the following unique capabilities:
Strong Authentication:The package provides government-grade FIPS 140 validated passwordless authentication with the flexibility needed to accommodate the full range of needs of employees, contractors, vendors and suppliers. For example, it offers a range of passwordless options, including both physical (YubiKeys, smart cards, PIV cards, USB keys, etc.) and platform (virtual smart cards).
Powerful Self-Service Capabilities:Axiad AirLock, which provides help desk automation by eliminating temporary passwords, provides self-service credential enrollment, and Axiad MyCircle provides self-service account recovery within a trusted circle of colleagues rather than waiting for the help desk to respond – both of which help to increase operational efficiencies for frontline workers and reduce IT costs.
Ready Implementation:The package's architecture is made to operate in air gapped environments and to seamlessly interoperate with existing authentication and infrastructure investments without requiring upgrades. This package fully leverages and extends the life of Microsoft authentication (e.g., Microsoft Active Directory) and infrastructure (e.g., Microsoft Windows Server) investments.
"Axiad's integration with Microsoft empowers critical infrastructure, government and defense industrial base to easily upgrade their existing Microsoft on-premises infrastructure to become passwordless," said Ehud Itshaki, principal product manager at Microsoft. "With phishing-resistant, passwordless authentication, they can enhance their security posture and comply with the recent EO mandating phishing-resistant MFA – all while getting more out of their existing Microsoft authentication and infrastructure investments."
About Axiad
Axiad delivers organization-wide passwordless orchestration to secure people, machines, and interactions for enterprise and public sector organizations that must optimize their cybersecurity posture while navigating underlying IT complexity. The company's flagship product, Axiad Cloud, is a comprehensive, secure and integrated authentication platform that allows customers to move to a passwordless future without the friction and risk of fragmented solutions. Axiad supports the widest range of credentials in the industry including FIDO, mobile MFA, Windows Hello for Business, YubiKeys, smart cards, TPM and biometrics, and is trusted by public sector organizations and Fortune 500 companies across aerospace & defense, financial services, insurance, healthcare, oil & energy and more.
For more information visitaxiad.comand follow us onTwitterandLinkedIn.
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