When one thinks of cybersecurity, one of the first images that comes to mind is often of a computer hacker sitting in a dark room, stealing personal or financial information. At least, that’s what a Google image search for the term would have you believe. But as anyone involved in providing technology solutions knows, cybersecurity has evolved far past stealing credit card numbers or identify theft. In industrial or Mil/Aero applications, cutting-edge cybersecurity measures are needed to protect critical functions, and ensure that products and their operating systems are incorruptible.
In Evaluation Engineering's August Mil/Aero Test Special Report, several vendors touch on cybersecurity as it relates to ongoing trends in Mil/Aero test. Here’s what a couple of them had to say in addition to their commentary in that report:
Stephen T. Sargeant, Major General, USAF (Ret.) and CEO of Marvin Test Solutions: “Cybersecurity is now mandated by the DoD for all maintenance test program development. The DoD Application Security and Development (ASD) Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) identifies the configuration standards for DoD Information Assurance (IA) and IA-enabled test systems and software. The ASD STIG identifies nearly 300 risks, categorized by severity, that apply to all DoD developed and deployed applications and systems connected to DoD networks. While not all of the requirements are applicable to automated test systems, MTS’ ATEasy software suite addresses key STIG requirements such as test program software audit event log recording, user audit event log recording, idle time locking, and user account handling including password policies.”
Bob Stasonis, technical product specialist at Pickering Interfaces: “Security is an important issue for Mil/Aero applications. As our modules carry minimal memory and rely on the system PC to do the 'heavy lifting,' it is relatively simple to clear the memory, ensuring that no sensitive information can be carried out of the test environment."
Here's a couple new solutions in the area of cybersecurity:
Enhanced cloud integration for R&S Web Application Firewall
Out of Rohde & Schwarz, the latest version of the R&S Web Application Firewall—made generally available July 18—offers low-touch deployment and management of the Web Application Firewall in the cloud. Fast deployment on Amazon Web Services (AWS) is enabled via Terraform template, whereby new instances of the R&S Web Application Firewall are automatically created as and when needed. The new firewall version offers the customer configuration orchestration using an API, to further simplify administration and management. A hybrid deployment with a mix of Amazon Web Services and on-premises solutions is also possible. The R&S Web Application Firewall scales up to handle peaks of traffic, and scales back down when traffic returns to its usual state. The autoscaler is also able to handle traffic with mixed instances "bring your own licenses" (BYOL) and "pay-as-you-go" (PAYG). The combination of license types from R&S Web Application Firewall allows customers to leverage the best security and application availability at a lower total cost of ownership. Rohde & Schwarz
Advanced LVDT signal conditioner
H.G. Schaevitz dba Alliance Sensors Group has introduced its latest LVDT signal conditioner, the highly advanced SC-200. This product offers smart and fast LVDT/RVDT setup and has been engineered to work with the widest range of industrial LVDTs, RVDTs, and inductive half-bridge sensors, including 3-wire LVRTs. The signal conditioning module has cyber security tamper prevention and notification features, providing confidence that the unit has not been compromised. Significant features include: Cybersecurity to prevent tampering and notify main system operations of tamper attempt; color-coded plug-in connections; self-diagnostics; and a two-year warranty. Alliance Sensors Group
