Cyber Committee Shares Expertise

Ranging in topics from cloud computing to supply chain management, AFCEA’s Cyber Committee has published five white papers. Available on the committee’s website, information ranges from the basics to high-level recommendations that will be useful not only to organizations’ information technology personnel but also to leadership planning strategies for the future.

“Cyber Assured Identity” includes details about personal identity verification (PIV) and personal identity verification-interoperable (PIV-I), delving beyond the topic from a government employees’ viewpoint and into the use of these credentials to deliver services to citizens securely online. Key to this push is the total implementation of Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12-1. In addition to enabling logical access necessary for business-to-government activity, adopting interoperability will standardize credentials that facilitate physical access. While vulnerabilities exist with electronically identifying government workers, the paper discusses the PIV and PIV-I credentials in terms of benefits and vulnerabilities and then offers recommendations.

Most organizations exploring work in cloud computing are often in search of how it can help address their big data challenges. Jamie Dos Santos and Jill Singer, authors of “Looking for the Right Answers in the Clouds,” share their research into the relationship between these two latest buzz words—cloud computing and big data—and discuss when the former is an appropriate solution for the latter.

The committee’s third offering takes a different look at cloud computing, specifically where information assurance is concerned. “Security and Cloud Computing,” also authored by Dos Santos and Singer, is a synopsis of insights gathered from more than two dozen cyberleaders in the private, government and academic sectors. Among the conclusions reached is the need for the development of hybrid cyberprofessionals who are well-versed in these two here-to-stay fields.

Security also is the focus of the fourth white paper; however, this time it involves Internet protocol version 6. While the ramp-up to adoption of the latest version has been the focus of numerous articles, this paper examines the risks in not migrating to it. The paper calls for thought leadership in this arena and offers suggestions about how to mitigate risks.

“Supply Chain Risk Management Awareness” explores the challenges governments and companies face in a global economy. The vulnerabilities surpass the possibility of a truck hijacking or mishandling of sensitive materials. Today, supply chain tinkering can start at the beginning—with malware and trojan horses introduced in the production process by a hostile nation or disgruntled employee. Addressing these possibilities is a matter of both vigilance and public-private cooperation, the authors propose.

The Cyber Committee plans to continue to share additional white papers on its website as they become available.