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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Emerging Technology
PR Newswire | August 10, 2023
Bloomberg Government announced today the release of several enhancements geared toward improving how its subscribers monitor and analyze state policy changes. These enhancements allow state-focused policy professionals to easily track and visualize legislation across multiple jurisdictions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. These new features will be showcased at the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Legislative Summit, taking place in Indianapolis, Indiana from August 14 to 16.
The latest enhancements to the Bloomberg Government include:
Bill Tracking, which enables users to monitor change and follow activities related to legislation across all 50 states andWashington, D.C.
Heatmaps, which visualize legislation being considered across the country to identify opportunities and threats to policy initiatives.
Session Timeline,which delivers up-to-date legislative and committee calendars for all 50 states, making it easier to keep track of which chambers are in and out of session.
"Bloomberg Government's enhancements make searching state legislation very intuitive," said Research Specialist Meredith Heaps of Nelson Mullin. "Simple tabs and dedicated search boxes make it easy to find targeted information. I also love the legislative timeline at the top of each bill - the visual data representation makes it easy to determine key stages and status."
"State-focused policy professionals turn to Bloomberg Government to easily track and visualize issues across multiple jurisdictions so they can quickly engage the appropriate legislators on the key issues that matter to them," said Arielle Elliott, president of Bloomberg Government. "We're committed to continually enhancing our platform to provide our clients the most timely and actionable data and content to help make sense of - and react to - legislative developments.
For more information or to request a demo of Bloomberg Government, please visithttps://aboutbgov.com/9N3.
About Bloomberg Government
Bloomberg Government is a premium, subscription-based service that provides comprehensive information and analytics for professionals who interact with – or are affected by – the government. Delivering news, analytics, and data-driven decision tools, Bloomberg Government's digital workspace gives an intelligent edge to government affairs and contracting professionals. For more information or a demo, visit Bloomberg Government.
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Emerging Technology
PR Newswire | July 06, 2023
Darkhive Inc., a San Antonio-based autonomous uncrewed systems developer specializing in defense and public safety solutions, announced the award of a $5M Phase III Small Business Innovation Research contract with the US Air Force AFWERX Prime to integrate and test next generation autonomy software to a variety of uncrewed aerial system platforms
"We're very excited to be participating in this program," said John Goodson, CEO of Darkhive. "An open government-owned framework optimized for rapidly integrating, testing and securely deploying software to edge systems has been at the center of our mission from the beginning. The Government and industry team supporting this effort is phenomenal, we're honored to have the opportunity to contribute to solving some very hard problems for DoD and, most importantly, delivering for the end-user on the front lines."
Founded in 2021, Darkhive has placed an emphasis on developing affordable, US-manufactured uncrewed systems with open hardware and software interfaces to provide life-saving situational awareness at home and abroad. "In order to achieve dynamic, autonomous systems both within the US Department of Defense (DoD) and with foreign partners, we have to break away from fragmented, vendor-locked approaches to software development and secure deployment on uncrewed systems," said Steve Turner, CTO of Darkhive. "By establishing open, accessible, discoverable, and adaptable interfaces, we can unlock the potential for cohesive, collaborative behavior. The deployment and security of software have experienced significant advancements over the past decade, but these transformative changes have yet to be fully realized in uncrewed platforms and meeting evolving end-user requirements. We are thrilled to collaborate with the US Air Force and industry partners to overcome these challenges and spearhead a revolution in autonomous systems."
Darkhive has previously been awarded contracts with the Defense Innovation Unit National Security Innovation Capital contract, multiple Small Business Innovation Research with the Air Force, and a Small Business Technology Transfer award partnered with the University of Alaska at Fairbanks.
About AFWERX
AFWERX is an Air Force Research Laboratory Directorate that connects innovators across government, industry and academia. Through innovation and collaboration with our nation's top subject-matter experts, AFWERX harnesses the power of ingenuity of internal talent while expanding technology, talent and transition partnerships for rapid and affordable commercial and military capability.
About AFRL
Sole organization leading the planning & execution of USAF & USSF 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.
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