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Deny-by-Default Network Port Security: SPaRC Technical Bulletin #002

Operational Technology (OT) networks [e.g., industrial control systems (ICS) and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems] have unique cyber security challenges due to their decades long service life, high availability requirements, and limited visibility. OT networks often take credit for being “air gapped” (i.e. disconnected from the Internet) and all devices within the OT network can “talk” to each other—even if they should not. This SPaRC Technical Bulletin describes how the unique limitations of OT networks can become strengths when it comes to cybersecurity.

Cybersecurity↗

MODIS. Volume 1: MODIS level 1A software baseline requirements

This document describes the level 1A software requirements for the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument. This includes internal and external requirements. Internal requirements include functional, operational, and data processing as well as performance, quality, safety, and security engineering requirements. External requirements include those imposed by data archive and distribution systems (DADS); scheduling, control, monitoring, and accounting (SCMA); product management (PM) system; MODIS log; and product generation system (PGS). Implementation constraints and requirements for adapting the software to the physical environment are also included.

Masuoka, Edward↗

Novel Advancements in Internet-Based Real Time Data Technologies

AZ Technology has been working with MSFC Ground Systems Department to find ways to make it easier for remote experimenters (RPI's) to monitor their International Space Station (ISS) payloads in real-time from anywhere using standard/familiar devices. AZ Technology was awarded an SBIR Phase I grant to research the technologies behind and advancements of distributing live ISS data across the Internet. That research resulted in a product called "EZStream" which is in use on several ISS-related projects. Although the initial implementation is geared toward ISS, the architecture and lessons learned are applicable to other space-related programs. This paper presents the high-level architecture and components that make up EZStream. A combination of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) and custom components were used and their interaction will be discussed. The server is powered by Apache's Jakarta-Tomcat web server/servlet engine. User accounts are maintained in a My SQL database. Both Tomcat and MySQL are Open Source products. When used for ISS, EZStream pulls the live data directly from NASA's Telescience Resource Kit (TReK) API. TReK parses the ISS data stream into individual measurement parameters and performs on-the- fly engineering unit conversion and range checking before passing the data to EZStream for distribution. TReK is provided by NASA at no charge to ISS experimenters. By using a combination of well established Open Source, NASA-supplied. and AZ Technology-developed components, operations using EZStream are robust and economical. Security over the Internet is a major concern on most space programs. This paper describes how EZStream provides for secure connection to and transmission of space- related data over the public Internet. Display pages that show sensitive data can be placed under access control by EZStream. Users are required to login before being allowed to pull up those web pages. To enhance security, the EZStream client/server data transmissions can be encrypted to preclude interception. EZStream was developed to make use of a host of standard platforms and protocols. Each are discussed in detail in this paper. The I3ZStream server is written as Java Servlets. This allows different platforms (i.e. Windows, Unix, Linux . Mac) to host the server portion. The EZStream client component is written in two different flavors: JavaBean and ActiveX. The JavaBean component is used to develop Java Applet displays. The ActiveX component is used for developing ActiveX-based displays. Remote user devices will be covered including web browsers on PC#s and scaled-down displays for PDA's and smart cell phones. As mentioned. the interaction between EZStream (web/data server) and TReK (data source) will be covered as related to ISS. EZStream is being enhanced to receive and parse binary data stream directly. This makes EZStream beneficial to both the ISS International Partners and non-NASA applications (i.e. factory floor monitoring). The options for developing client-side display web pages will be addressed along with the development of tools to allow creation of display web pages by non-programmers.

Myers, Gerry↗

Strategies for converting to a DBMS environment

The conversion to data base management systems processing techniques consists of three different strategies - one for each of the major stages in the development process. Each strategy was chosen for its approach in bringing about a smooth evolutionary type transition from one mode of operation to the next. The initial strategy of the indoctrination stage consisted of: (1) providing maximum access to current administrative data as soon as possible; (2) select and developing small prototype systems; (3) establishing a user information center as a central focal point for user training and assistance; and (4) developing a training program for programmers, management and ad hoc users in DBMS application and utilization. Security, the rate of the data dictionary, and data base tuning and capacity planning, and the development of a change of attitude in an automated office are issues meriting consideration.

Durban, D. M.↗

A New Remote Communications Link to Reduce Residential PV Solar Costs

Monitoring of PV/DER site production is expensive to install and unreliable. Among third party systems providers, lost communications links are a growing concern. Nearly 20% of links are failing, provisioning is complex, recovery is expensive, production data is lost, and access is fragmented. FleetLink is a new concept in DER system communications, purpose built for lowering the cost of maintaining active contact with residential end user sites and ensuring that production data is reliably available to third party systems providers. Systems providers require accurate, secure system monitoring and reporting of production data and system faults while driving down overall costs to compete effectively. This plug and play, independently operating communications solution lowers the cost of fleet contact from typically .08 dollars-$.12/W down to .02 dollars -.03/W including installation and maintenance expenses. FleetLink establishes a breakthrough in simplicity that facilitates rapid expansion of residential solar by reducing initial capital outlay and lowering installation labor time and skill levels. The solution also facilitates higher DER installation growth rates by driving down maintenance costs and eliminating communications trouble calls. This is accomplished by the FleetLink’s unique network technology that enables dynamic network configuration for fast changes, and active, self-healing DER site contact for uptime assurance. Using an open source network framework with proprietary, application specific enhancements, FleetLink independently manages connectivity, security, recovery, grid control communications, and fleet expansion while presenting a compliant SunSpec interface to the third party operations centers. The net system cost savings of at least .05 dollars/W supports the SunShot cost goals and the flexibility and scalability of the solution accelerates the velocity and ubiquitous adoption of solar.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Nevada National Security Site 2013 Waste Management Monitoring Report Area 3 and Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Site

Environmental monitoring data are collected at and around the Area 3 and Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Sites (RWMSs) within the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). These data are associated with radiation exposure, air, groundwater, meteorology, and vadose zone. This report summarizes the 2013 environmental data to provide an overall evaluation of RWMS performance and to support environmental compliance and performance assessment (PA) activities. Some of these data (e.g., radiation exposure, air, and groundwater) are presented in other reports (National Security Technologies, LLC, 2013; 2014a; 2014b). Direct radiation monitoring data indicate exposure levels at the RWMSs are within the range of background levels measured at the NNSS. Slightly elevated exposure levels outside the Area 3 RWMS are attributed to nearby historical aboveground nuclear weapons tests. Air monitoring data show tritium concentrations in water vapor and americium and plutonium concentrations in air particles are close to detection limits and background levels. The measured levels of radionuclides in air particulates and moisture are below Derived Concentration Standards for these radionuclides. Groundwater monitoring data indicate the groundwater in the uppermost aquifer beneath the Area 5 RWMS is not impacted by RWMS operations. Results of groundwater analysis from wells around the Area 5 RWMS were all below established investigation levels. Leachate samples collected from the leachate collection system at the mixed low-level waste cell were below established contaminant regulatory limits. The 105.8 millimeters (mm) (4.17 inches [in.]) of precipitation at the Area 3 RWMS during 2013 is 30% below the average of 150.3 mm (5.92 in.), and the 117.5 mm (4.63 in.) of precipitation at the Area 5 RWMS during 2013 is 5% below the average of 123.6 mm (4.86 in.). Water balance measurements indicate that evapotranspiration from the vegetated weighing lysimeter dries the soil and prevents downward percolation of precipitation more effectively than evaporation from the bare-soil weighing lysimeter. Automated vadose zone monitoring on Area 5 and Area 3 RWMS cell covers show no evidence of precipitation percolating through the cover to the waste. Moisture from precipitation did not percolate below 60 centimeters (cm) (2 feet [ft]) in the vegetated final cover on the U-3ax/bl disposal unit at the Area 3 RWMS, and moisture from precipitation and irrigation did not percolate below 45 cm (1.5 ft) on the 92-Acre Area final cover. Irrigation was applied to this cover for seed germination and plant growth. During 2013, there was no drainage through 2.4 meters (8 ft) of soil from the Area 3 drainage lysimeters that received only natural precipitation. Twenty percent of the applied precipitation and irrigation drained from the bare-soil drainage lysimeter that received 3-times natural precipitation. All 2013 monitoring data indicate that the Area 3 and Area 5 RWMSs are performing within expectations of the model and parameter assumptions for the facility PAs.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Experiments for Securing Air Traffic Against Cyber-Physical System Attacks

This presentation describes experiments conducted with single board computers to investigate methods for creating trust for enabling the development of cyber-resilient air transportation systems. Methods included secure communication to prevent unauthorized access to data, consistency of data obtained via sensors and by processing, and built-in safeguards to prevent mission failure. The motivation for this work are the following. The future air transportation system needs to ensure availability, integrity, confidentiality and safety of operations. Safety of vehicles and operations is paramount for successful integration of Urban Air Mobility (UAM), Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), supersonic aircraft and launch vehicles with conventional aviation operations in the National Airspace System. Security is becoming critical because the sensors, networks and computers are far more vulnerable to bad actors than their mechanical or human predecessors. The goal therefore is to design and develop cyber-resilient systems that continue to function even in degraded states. The main findings are (1) off-the-shelf hardware can support development of cyber-resilient onboard flight computers and (2) trust in system design and implementation can be accomplished by integrating layers in depth (detail) and in breadth (scope).

cyber-resilient autonomy, trust, secure communicat↗

Data Release Report for Source Physics Experiment 1 (SPE-1), Nevada National Security Site

The first Source Physics Experiment shot (SPE-1) was conducted in May 2011. The explosive source was a ~100-kilogram TNT-equivalent chemical set at a depth of 60 meters. It was recorded by an extensive set of instrumentation that includes sensors both at near-field (less than 100 meters) and far-field (more than 100 meters) distances. The near-field instruments consisted of three-component accelerometers deployed in boreholes around the shot and a set of singlecomponent vertical accelerometers on the surface. The far-field network comprised a variety of seismic and acoustic sensors, including short-period geophones, broadband seismometers, three-component accelerometers, and rotational seismometers at distances of 100 meters to 25 kilometers. This report coincides with the release of these data for analysts and organizations that are not participants in this program. This report describes the first Source Physics Experiment and the various types of near-field and far-field data that are available.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗

First Report of the Nuclear Data Subcommittee of the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee

Accurate, reliable nuclear data is essential for the success of Federal missions such as nonproliferation, nuclear forensics, homeland security, national defense, space exploration, clean energy generation, and scientific research. Data access is also key to innovative commercial developments such as new medicines, automated industrial controls, energy exploration, energy security, nuclear reactor design, and isotope production. The United States Nuclear Data Program (USNDP) is the domestic custodian of nuclear data. In its April 2022 meeting, the DOE/NSF Nuclear Science Advisory Committee was charged with preparing two reports on nuclear data. In this first report, we review recent accomplishments of the USNDP and discuss complementary and collaborative international efforts. Detailed descriptions of nuclear data needs for basic science, nonproliferation, national security, nuclear energy together with medical and space applications are also presented. Lastly, a set of specific cross-cutting nuclear data needs with relevance for multiple applications areas are also identified for further discussion in a follow-on report planned for release at the end of January 2023.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Nevada National Security Site 2017 Waste Management Monitoring Report Area 3 and Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Sites

Environmental monitoring data are collected at and around the Area 3 and Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Sites (RWMSs) within the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). These data include direct radiation exposure, as well as radiation from the air, groundwater, meteorology, and vadose zone. This report summarizes the 2017 environmental data.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Frictionless knowledge injection for few-shot learning

Cutting-edge machine learning methods often require large volumes of curated training data, precluding their use in national security problems with rare events in massive datasets. We present a method for incorporating abstract knowledge into models tailored for sparse data. A subject matter expert defines salient concepts using data examples, which are encoded in the model’s embedding space. Models are then trained to respect these concepts. This method enables knowledge injection, yielding effective models with limited labeled data and the ability to assess model sensitivity for subject matter expertise across the nonproliferation mission space, as demonstrated with Raman spectra analysis.

Stomps, Jordan [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000178114479)↗

Developing a Crop Mask for Agricultural Assessments in Kenya

Kenya relies on agricultural production for supporting local consumption and other processing value chains. The role of agriculture in supporting Kenya's economy is critical, with its contribution to the Gross Domestic product (GDP) estimated at over 277,000 Million in 2016. With changing climate in a rain-fed dependent agricultural production system, cropping zones are shifting and proper decision making will require updated data for proper delineation of cropping areas and extent; especially in agriculture and food security assessments. Where up-to-date data is not available it is important that it is generated and passed over to relevant stakeholders to inform their decision making processes. It is important that government agencies, non-governmental agencies and other agricultural stakeholders access updated tools and information to assist in their assessments. To support agricultural decision making, SERVIR E&SA will develop an updated agricultural crop mask. Due to intercropping especially in small holder farming, the mask will cover all crops to provide an overall map of cropped areas.

environment↗

Second Report of the Nuclear Data Subcommittee of the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee

The central importance of the nuclear data curated by the US Nuclear Data Program (USNDP) for clean energy generation, national security, nonproliferation, medical applications, and space exploration as well as basic science was described in a prior report issued by the DOE/NSF Nuclear Science Advisory Committee subcommittee on Nuclear Data (NSAC-ND) in September 2022. In this report, we present a set of fourteen (14) recommendations that will enhance and advance DOE-NP's stewardship of nuclear data. The first three recommendations focus on the existing core USNDP capabilities, namely: 1) Support the nuclear structure evaluation workforce to improve the currency, consistency, and accessibility of the Evaluated Nuclear Structure Data File (ENSDF); 2) Enhance nuclear reaction evaluation within the USNDP in support of the Evaluated Nuclear Data File (ENDF) through expansion of the workforce and integration of high-performance computing, automation, and machine learning and; 3) Continue atomic mass evaluation in support AME and NUBASE databases. This is followed by eight (8) recommendations representing new cross-cutting initiatives involving both measurement and evaluation to address outstanding nuclear data needs. These new initiatives require a highly trained, diverse workforce that includes personnel with expertise from both inside and outside the nuclear physics community from which evaluators have traditionally been recruited. As such, many of these initiatives are accomplished via a Topical Nuclear Data Collaborations (TNDC). A TNDC is made up of domestic and international stakeholders, subject matter and nuclear data experts, and nuclear data evaluators and features a workforce development plan to ensure that nuclear data evaluators maintain currency in the relevant applications and are seen as equity partners in the endeavor. These include: 1) Establish a coordinated effort to improve evaluation and modeling in nuclear astrophysics for stellar dynamics, multi-messenger astronomy and nucleosynthesis; 2) Initiate a TNDC to develop and maintain nuclear structure evaluation beyond discrete states, including nuclear level densities, photon strength functions and photonuclear data for improved reaction modeling, and exploring nuclear structure at finite temperature; 3) Create a TNDC to perform correlated fission data evaluation, including cross sections, fragment yields, v(A), v(E n ) for nuclear energy, national security, nonproliferation and basic science; 4) From a panel of subject matter experts to establish and annually update a roster of key decay data to nurture its accelerated dissemination including both measurement and evaluation for targeted high-value nuclides for national security, nonproliferation and medical applications; 5) Comprehensive, consistent neutron-induced structure and reaction data for nuclear energy, national security, nonproliferation and planetary nuclear spectroscopy; 6) Charged-particle stopping powers for detector design, space effects and ion beam therapy; 7) High-energy reactions for space exploration and medical nuclide production, and; 8) The creation of an infrastructure for open data and data preservation for use by the entire nuclear physics community. All told, these initiatives require approximately $6.5M increase in NP support of the USNDP in fiscal year 2023 dollars and would require at least 3-5 years to carry out due to the length of time needed to recruit and train new nuclear data researchers. This relatively modest investment would help ensure that the fruits of the nuclear data research carried out by DOE-NP and its collaborators would be brought to bear to address some of the most important needs of our nation and the world. To ensure effective execution of this plan, we present an overview of recruitment, training, and retention goals for the USNDP, the centerpiece of which is a mutually agreed upon code of conduct. Finally, we identify the facility and instrumentation needed to perform the recommended experimental activities. This includes a short review of target fabrication capabilities, reactors, neutron beam, light- and heavy-stable ion, gamma-ray, high-energy and radioactive ion beam facilities. Lastly, a more complete appendix of experimental facilities previously compiled is included with new input provided for 6 facilities.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Towards a Relation Extraction Framework for Cyber-Security Concepts

In order to assist security analysts in obtaining information pertaining to their network, such as novel vulnerabilities, exploits, or patches, information retrieval methods tailored to the security domain are needed. As labeled text data is scarce and expensive, we follow developments in semi-supervised NLP and implement a bootstrapping algorithm for extracting security entities and their relationships from text. The algorithm requires little input data, specifically, a few relations or patterns (heuristics for identifying relations), and incorporates an active learning component which queries the user on the most important decisions to prevent drifting the desired relations. Preliminary testing on a small corpus shows promising results, obtaining precision of .82.

Jones, Corinne L↗

A holistic cyber-physical security protocol for authenticating the provenance and integrity of structural health monitoring imagery data

Modern infrastructure systems, such as bridges, dams, power generation stations, and buildings increasingly have an intrinsic cyber-physical nature to them. Infrastructure now commonly, includes actuators, network connections, sensors, control systems, and computational resources. It is of increasing concern that modern infrastructure is vulnerable to cyber-attacks that can damage both the cyber and physical nature of the infrastructure. To date, the physical and cyber health of infrastructure has been considered separately. However, the increasing concerns associated with the cyber-physical security of infrastructure coupled with the emergence of 5G networks made using components that are not universally considered trustworthy, and the emergence of techniques for creating deepfakes and adversarial examples suggests the time has come to begin considering cyber health and structural health with a more holistic approach. In this work, a protocol is developed for ensuring the imagery data captured by a structural health monitoring system can be unambiguously attributed to legitimate sensors associated with the structural health monitoring system. A computer vision approach based on the idea of mutual information is then presented to detect damage in an image. This work presents the protocol for authenticating the provenance of imager data and demonstrates that this protocol does not have overly adverse effects when used with the mutual information-based technique for detecting damage in the resulting imagery data.

Jung, HweeKwon↗

Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence (FY 2018 Data Analysis Annual Report)

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence (NSDD) has facilitated the installation of more than 3,728 radiation portal monitors (RPMs) at 660 sites in 63 countries. This collection of RPMs represents the world’s largest network of radiation detectors and provides one element of the defense-in-depth approach that supports the Global Nuclear Detection Architecture. These systems support NSDD’s mission to build partner country capability to deter, detect, and interdict the illicit transport of radiological and fissile material through strategic points of entry and exit at seaports, airports, and border crossings.NSDD works collaboratively with partner countries and international organizations to optimize the operation of these RPMs. The large amount of data provided by NSDD partner countries (summarized in the banner to the right) highlights the close cooperation and partnerships NSDD has built with 63 countries around the world. Thirty-two of these countries shared at least some RPM-related data with NSDD in fiscal year (FY) 2018. This significant level of data sharing is a key element that distinguishes the NSDD office as unique among nuclear nonproliferation programs and initiatives: NSDD can provide specific, objective, data-driven decisions and support for sustaining the radiation detection systems it helped deploy. This data analysis report summarizes and aggregates the RPM data provided to the NSDD office for analysis and review in FY 2018.The data can be used to describe RPM performance and characterize the wide diversity of NSDD deployment sites. For example, NSDD deploys detector systems across sites with natural background radiation levels that can vary by a factor of up to nine from site to site. Some RPM lanes have few occupancies, whereas others have up to approximately 8,000 occupancies per day, and the different types of cargo traveling through a site can result in site-wide alarm rates that range from near 0% at some sites to above 3% at others. Based on the data received, the global average uptime for NSDD RPMs was 97% for FY 2018. NSDD takes all these factors into account in making recommendations to partner countries on how to most effectively manage and maintain site operations. NSDD utilizes reports and other information products created by ORNL Radiation Inspection Systems Team (RIST) data analysts to efficiently allocate the resources needed to detect and ultimately interdict illicit nuclear and radiological material.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗

Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence FY 2016 Data Analysis Annual Report

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence (NSDD) has facilitated the installation of more than 3,500 radiation portal monitors (RPMs) at 606 sites in 56 countries worldwide. This collection of RPMs represents the world’s largest network of radiation detectors and provides one element in the defense-in-depth approach that supports the Global Nuclear Detection Architecture. These systems support NSDD’s mission to build partner country capability to deter, detect, and interdict the illicit transport of radiological and fissile material through strategic points of entry and exit at seaports, airports, and border crossings. NSDD works collaboratively with partner countries and international organizations to optimize the operation of these RPMs. The large amount of data provided by NSDD partner countries highlights the close cooperation and partnerships NSDD has built with 56 countries around the world. Thirty-seven of these countries shared at least some RPM-related data with NSDD in fiscal year 2016. This significant level of data sharing is a key element that distinguishes the NSDD office as unique among nuclear nonproliferation programs and initiatives: NSDD can provide specific, objective, data-driven decisions and support for sustaining the radiation detection systems it helped deploy. This data analysis report summarizes and aggregates the RPM data provided to the NSDD office for analysis and review in fiscal year 2016. The data can be used to describe RPM performance and characterize the wide diversity of NSDD deployment sites. For example, NSDD deploys detector systems across sites with natural background radiation levels that can vary by a factor of approximately six from site to site. Some lanes have few occupancies, whereas others have approximately 8,000 occupancies per day and the different types of cargo that travel through a site can result in site-wide alarm rates that range from near 0% at some sites to above 3% at others. Based on the data received, the global average uptime for NSDD RPMs was above 96% for fiscal year 2016. NSDD takes all of these factors into account in making recommendations to partner countries on how to most effectively manage and maintain site operations. NSDD utilizes reports and other information products created by data analysts to efficiently allocate the resources needed to detect and ultimately interdict illicit nuclear and radiological material.

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL P↗

A review of artificial intelligence applications in manufacturing operations

Abstract Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can improve manufacturing efficiency, productivity, and sustainability. However, using AI in manufacturing also presents several challenges, including issues with data acquisition and management, human resources, infrastructure, as well as security risks, trust, and implementation challenges. For example, getting the data needed to train AI models can be difficult for rare events or costly for large datasets that need labeling. AI models can also pose security risks when integrated into industrial control systems. In addition, some industry players may be hesitant to use AI due to a lack of trust or understanding of how it works. Despite these challenges, AI has the potential to be extremely helpful in manufacturing, particularly in applications such as predictive maintenance, quality assurance, and process optimization. It is important to consider the specific needs and capabilities of each manufacturing scenario when deciding whether and how to use AI in manufacturing. This review identifies current developments, challenges, and future directions in AI/ML relevant to manufacturing, with the goal of improving understanding of AI/ML technologies available for solving manufacturing problems, providing decision‐support for prioritizing and selecting appropriate AI/ML technologies, and identifying areas where further research can yield transformational returns for the industry. Early experience suggests that AI/ML can have significant cost and efficiency benefits in manufacturing, especially when combined with the ability to capture enormous amounts of data from manufacturing systems.

Plathottam, Siby Jose↗