NEWPORT, R.I. — The Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) Systems Integration (SP-2012) Team has won a Department of Navy (DON) Information Management/Information Technology Excellence Award. This award recognizes teams who have applied innovative concepts and challenged conventional thinking resulting in improved use of DON information.
The SSP SP-2012 Team is being recognized for the development of an innovative Risk Management Framework (RMF) cybersecurity tool to expedite the recently updated Department of Defense assessment and authorization process. In response to the updated process, which required more time to access the selection of security controls across each system under evaluation, the team developed a Cybersecurity Capability Selection (CSCS) tool that drastically cuts the processing time (from months to minutes) required to determine the security controls engineers must consider for system integration.
After a security engineer answers a few questions in the CSCS tool, it takes the 1,900-plus RMF security controls and populates all the non-applicable fields, eliminating any duplicative questions. In a matter of minutes, the tool reduces the number of security controls to only those required for that particular system, sometimes as low as 150 to 200, to consider for system integration. With correct inputs, the CSCS tool can provide engineers with accurate cybersecurity requirements for performance specifications, representing not only increased efficiencies, but staggering cost avoidance.
Team members from NUWC Newport’s Undersea Warfare Combat Systems Department include: Steve Masterson (team lead) of South Kingstown, Rhode Island; Janice Burke of Portsmouth, Rhode Island; Christopher Crogan and Richard Halcisak of Middletown, Rhode Island; and Pros Reun of Lakeville, Massachusetts. Rebecca Chhim of Tiverton, Rhode Island, head, Information Technology Division, served as activity chief information officer.
The team will be presented the award at a ceremony in Norfolk, Virginia, in early June.
NUWC Division Newport, part of the Naval Sea System Command, is one of two divisions of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center. NUWC Division Newport’s mission is to provide research, development, test and evaluation, engineering and fleet support for submarines, autonomous underwater systems, undersea offensive and defensive weapons systems, and countermeasures. NUWC’s other division is located in Keyport, Washington.
Editor’s Note: There is one set of Department of Navy Information Management/Information Technology Excellence Awards. Recipients who live on the West Coast will receive their award at the DON IT West Coast Conference (Feb. 13-15) at the San Diego Convention Center. East Coast recipients will receive their award at the DON IT East Coast Conference June 3-5 in Norfolk, Virginia.