Keeping a Secret Secret
The Pentagon warns that cyber attacks and threats from foreign intelligence services on national security are very real, and they aim to increase protections for subcontractors from foreign hacking efforts so that sensitive information remains undistributed. Part of the new standard reads, “a company’s level of security is accepted by all prime contractors, systems integrators, and the DoD.” Subcontractors should now be able to better explain their security controls to defense companies. (J.Lynch, Fifth Domain, December 2018)
Subcontractors are being held to new standards, and the Pentagon is serious about poor or lapsed cybersecurity measures. A Pentagon task force has been created to prevent defense secrets from outside hackers as well as a pilot program for the DoD to learn which companies are actually in their network.
In light of those warnings, the Aerospace Industry Association (AIA) has updated the national aerospace standard, which now consists of a list of 110 security controls broken down into “22 control families.” (J.Lynch, Fifth Domain, December 2018) These new AIA guidelines do not replace the National Institute of Standards and Technology standards, but work to compliment them. Updated AIA standards are built around successive levels of security, thus allowing for continual improvement of cyber defense capabilities.
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