Category: Industry News

Industry News

CBP, DFW, dnata Cargo USA Unveil Nation’s First Airside Centralized Examination Station

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials from the Area Port of Dallas have joined with DFW airport officials and executives from dnata Cargo USA to publicly announce the opening of the nation’s first and only CBP Centralized Examination Station with direct access to an Airport Air Operations Area (AOA). This innovative setup, which traditionally takes place outside of a secure airfield environment at other airports, enables the direct transfer of cargo from airplanes to the CBP inspection facility, eliminating the need for additional transport and significantly enhancing efficiency.

“This ambitious venture with dnata Cargo USA and DFW supports a strong economy and gives the Area Port of Dallas the cargo processing space to consolidate CBP enforcement efforts and the unprecedented volume of International E-commerce shipments,” said CBP Dallas Area Port Director Jayson Ahern. “These streamlined efforts allow CBP to better leverage our resources and manpower while ensuring we fulfill our national security mission. We are better suited to process legitimate cargo while protecting American business and consumers by intercepting illicit and possibly unsafe goods. This is at the core of CBP’s mission.”

The facility is strategically designed, from its location to its operational processes. With CBP officers on site, the CES ensures smooth inspections and optimal use of CBP resources. Additionally, it features the latest non-intrusive inspection technology to expedite cargo exams, streamlining the overall package clearance process at DFW.

“The CES is a key part of supporting DFW Airport’s rapid growth of international e-commerce package clearances,” said Chris McLaughlin, DFW’s Executive Vice President Operations. “We’re just beginning to tap into our immense business potential in cargo, thanks to our location in the center of the country, coupled with our extensive air service network. We thank our partners at CBP for choosing DFW as the first airport in the nation to lean into this new operating model.”

In fiscal year 2020, DFW Airport processed 16,000 international e-commerce clearances. The airport has seen its e-commerce clearances increase to 20 million packages in 2023. In the first half of 2024, that number has already exceeded 23 million packages.   

While the vast majority of importers follow U.S. laws and regulations, transnational criminal organizations constantly attempt to circumvent the system by hiding their contraband under the massive flow of legitimate shipments. CBP now has another resource to address the challenges faced in the de minimis environment, helping CBP better protect the American people.

“By expediting the commercial flow of legitimate goods, this innovative Centralized Examination Station has proven to be an economic stimulus to the region,” Ahern said. “CBP has assigned officers, agriculture specialists, and supervisors to this facility since its inception, we have seen greater speed and efficiency in clearing cross-border e-commerce and imports targeted for inspection. For the American consumer, it means their products make it to their doorstep faster and safer. This CES will serve as a model for future port efforts throughout the United States. Together with our DFW and dnata Cargo USA partners, we’re proud to be on the front end of this innovative effort.”

Industry News

Biden-Harris Administration Announces $636 Million in Grants to Improve Airport Infrastructure

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced more than $636 million for 320 grants in 46 states and American Samoa to improve our nation’s airport infrastructure.

“From passenger travel to cargo operations, the Biden-Harris Administration continues to make our aviation system safer, more accessible, and more resilient through initiatives like the Airport Improvement Program,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “Thanks to this latest round of funding, passengers across the country will benefit as we make airports from Rhode Island to American Samoa more modern and efficient.”

This fourth round of the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grants fund a variety of projects such planning, airport safety improvements, airport development, and airport noise compatibility grants.

View an interactive map with all the grants. 

“This $636 million investment helps airports across the Nation sustain and improve critical infrastructure to advance the safest, most efficient airport system in the world,” said FAA Associate Administrator for Airports Shannetta R. Griffin, P.E. 

Examples of airports receiving grants include: 

  • $24.2 million at Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, New York: The grant funds a runway rehabilitation to improve airfield safety.  
  • $16.3 million at Philadelphia International Airport in Pennsylvania: This grant funds a runway rehabilitation to improve safety.  
  • $15.7 million at Detroit Willow Run Airport in Michigan: This grant funds taxiway construction.     
  • $15 million at Ellison Onizuka Kona International at Keahole, Hawaii: The grant funds a runway rehabilitation.  
  • $14.8 million at Pioneer Field in Valdez, Alaska: The grant funds the expansion of a snow removal equipment building. 
  • $14.5 million at Muhammad Ali International in Louisville, Kentucky: This grant funds the reconstruction of taxiways. 
  • $9.2 million at Rhode Island T.F. Green International in Warwick: This grant funds the construction of aircraft parking.
  • $4.2 million at San Diego International in California: This grant funds the reconstruction of taxiways.
  • $755,000 at Fitiuta Airport in American Samoa: This grant funds the reconstruction of runway lights.     

The Airport Improvement Program receives approximately $3.3 billion in funding each year. 

Industry News

IDS Provides Waterway Mapping

Up-to-date and accurate maps of the waterways are a prerequisite for safe and efficient shipping in Germany. Authorities such as the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency, but also private harbor operators, are obliged to provide these in an up-to-date form at all times. The main reason for this is to avoid accidents caused by an incorrect or outdated card. This includes the classification of federal waterways, their kilometers, existing locks, lifting and barrages, other surrounding waters, places and borders. Currently, mapping is carried out by conventional ships with trained personnel, which is time-consuming and expensive. This can result in long intervals between measurements at a particular location.

(Semi-)automated monitoring of waterways by autonomous platforms with obstacle avoidance and traffic detection could optimize this process and provide maps in less time. To this end, the Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB has developed an autonomous surface vehicle capable of autonomously surveying bodies of water as part of a three-year in-house research project. For this purpose, the river bed is recorded using sonar. Furthermore, the bank areas and surface structures are monitored by an optical system with two integrated industrial cameras from IDS Imaging Development Systems GmbH. The information obtained in this way is then merged and transferred to a 3D map of the surroundings.

Application

The precise surveying of water bodies is a demanding task. TAPS, the Fraunhofer IOSB’s semi-automatic direction finding system for rivers and lakes is able to perform this task both under and above water. The vehicle, which measures approximately 2 x 1.5 x 1 metres, travels along the relevant waterway and automatically avoids obstacles, whether stationary or moving. At a speed of 2 knots – which corresponds to around 3.7 kilometres per hour – such a mission can last up to 20 hours. For visual mapping of the shore areas, TAPS has two cameras attached to a mast, each pointing to starboard or port and whose fields of view do not overlap. Due to their high resolution, they allow a visual inspection of relevant infrastructure, such as quay walls, as well as 3D modelling of the shore area based on the recorded image data.

“We use an automated system for intelligent image capture. As soon as one or both cameras are focussed on a predefined area of interest, image recording is started. The vehicle’s own movement is also used to store only image data that is recorded from different angles and therefore offers added value in terms of content,” explains Boitumelo Ruf, expert in photogrammetry in the Autonomous Robot Systems research group at Fraunhofer IOSB. GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems, such as GPS) and IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit for position determination) data serve as the basis for determining the position and orientation of the TAPS platform. “When the images are captured, they are enriched with the current GNSS position data. The latter are required later for the assignment of precise coordinates,” Ruf continues.

After data acquisition, the recorded images are transmitted together with the GNSS data to a ground control station, where a photogrammetric reconstruction is carried out. Ruf describes the procedure in more detail: “Among other things, we use the COLMAP photogrammetric toolbox. It uses outstanding image features to first compare the input images, calculate their relative positions and create a true-to-life 3D model of the environment. We then use the tool to match the images pixel by pixel, i.e. we search for corresponding pixels and merge them exactly. The result is a dense 3D point cloud that is georeferenced using the GNSS positions, i.e. provided with the corresponding current coordinates.” The 3D model can then be used for other tasks, such as visual inspections or bank monitoring.

Robust Industrial Cameras Defy Wind and Weather

On the camera side, the Fraunhofer Institute relies on two uEye FA industrial cameras from IDS. The robust and resilient models with PoE are ideal for demanding environments. Camera housings, lens tubes and the screwable connectors meet the requirements of IP code IP65/67 and are thus optimally protected against dirt, dust and splash water.

The model used has the large-format 1.1″ CMOS sensor IMX304 from Sony and delivers very clear, noise- free images with a resolution of 4096 x 3000 pixels. Thanks to its remarkable dynamic range and very high sensitivity, the global shutter sensor of the second pixel generation of the Pregius series is particularly suitable for metrology applications, among others.

It was precisely these characteristics that were decisive for the Fraunhofer IOSB’s choice of camera. In addition to robustness and weather protection, important requirements for the cameras included a compact form factor and high image resolution to enable detailed visual inspections. The sensor should also offer a high dynamic range in order to capture images with a high level of detail in both sunny and shady areas. Integration via the standard GigE Vision interface enables the development and use of one driver for several systems with different cameras.

Industry News

Teen Stabbed in Miami Airport – Evacuation Ensues

A man is accused of stabbing a 17-year-old at the Miami Intl. Airport on Saturday, July 20. This incident cause worries of an active shooter situation though no gun was involved. The airport evacuated the terminal as a precaution, according to airport police.

The woman was stabbed around 11:30 p.m. in Terminal J out of the secure area. A spokesman for the Miami-Dade Police Department said the assailant also tried to throw the woman over a railing but she got away. The knife was recovered when the man, Alexander Love, 29, was arrested and charged with attempted first-degree murder. The woman was hospitalized in critical condition but expected to survive.

Industry News

European Parliament Vote on Teenage Lorry Drivers is a Wrong-Turn for Road Safety

The European Parliament’s position on revised rules for driver licenses in the EU, agreed in Strasbourg today, will have severe negative consequences for road safety according to the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC).

ETSC says it is most concerned about the proposal to require all EU Member States to introduce an accompanied driving scheme for 17-year-old lorry drivers. The current recommended minimum age for this category of vehicle in the EU is 21, though several countries allow 18-year-olds to drive HGVs under certain conditions. Research by the German Insurance Association (GDV) shows that HGV drivers aged 18-20 caused a much higher proportion of collisions resulting in personal injury than older HGV driver age groups.

The Parliament also backed the concept of allowing 16-year-olds to drive speed-limited cars, including large SUVs, when fitted with a speed limiter. The European Commission’s impact assessment on the proposal said “the measure may pose an additional road safety risk, notably for vulnerable road users”.    
“Having thousands more teenagers driving lorries and cars is an affront to everything we know about road safety risk,” Antonio Avenoso, Executive Director of ETSC commented. “If we need more lorry drivers, then the answer is to vastly improve working conditions in the sector, not sign-up school children for the task.  If Europe believes in sustainable mobility, then allowing the richest parents to buy specially adapted cars for their children is unfair, unhealthy and unsafe.  We should be encouraging youngsters to travel by walking, cycling and using public transport, not putting the lives of their peers at risk in SUVs. We hope that Member States will see sense and reject these ideas.”

ETSC supports several other aspects of the proposed legislation, including the requirement for a probationary period for young drivers with a zero-tolerance rule for alcohol when they first start to drive alone. However ETSC says these measures will not offset the damage caused by lowering the minimum ages for driving.  

Industry News

Dragos OT Cybersecurity “Year in Review” Reports Rise in Geopolitically Driven Attacks, Ransomware, and Threat Groups

Dragos Inc., the global leader in cybersecurity for operational technology (OT) environments, today released its sixth annual Dragos OT Cybersecurity Year in Review report, the most comprehensive report on cyber threats facing industrial organizations. The report named the emergence of three new threat groups, including VOLTZITE linked to Volt Typhoon, and found that ransomware continued to be the most reported cyber threat among industrial organizations with a nearly 50% increase in reported incidents. 2023 also saw the first time a hacktivist group achieved Stage 2 of the ICS Cyber Kill Chain.

“OT cyber threats reached a tipping point in 2023,” said Robert M. Lee, co-founder and CEO of Dragos. “Industrial and critical infrastructure has been moving away from highly customized facilities to ones that—for good economic and productivity reasons—share the same industrial devices, technologies, and facility designs across sites and sectors. Unfortunately, adversaries are now leveraging these homogenous infrastructures to scale attacks. They also target weaknesses in environments that pushed digital transformation without adequate cybersecurity measures. These factors contributed to an environment in 2023 in which organizations were challenged with a range of threats, including increasingly sophisticated state actors, hacktivists praying on pervasive security weaknesses, and a growing barrage of ransomware attacks.”

“There were positive developments for OT cybersecurity too,” continued Lee. “We saw vendors, governments, and the community collaborate to enable a unified, risk-based response to threats, as was the case with the ControlLogix vulnerabilities disclosed by Rockwell Automation. We observed that more devices and protocols are incorporating authentication. And we at Dragos experienced triple the number of organizations conducting tabletop exercises, including a 350% increase at the board and executive level, to test and strengthen their OT security strategies.”

Details of the 2023 Year in Review:

  • Dragos identified three new OT Threat Groups—VOLTZITE, GANANITE, and LAURIONITE. With these additions, Dragos analysts now track 21 Threat Groups worldwide that have been observed as being engaged in OT operations in 2023.
    • VOLTZITE targets electric power generation, transmission and distribution and has been observed targeting research, technology, defense industrial bases, satellite services, telecommunications, and educational organizations. The group overlaps with Volt Typhoon, a group that the U.S. government has publicly linked to the People’s Republic of China. The group’s threat activities include living off the land (LOTL) techniques, prolonged surveillance, and data gathering aligned with Volt Typhoon’s assessed objectives of reconnaissance and gaining geopolitical advantage in the Asia-Pacific region. They have traditionally targeted U.S.-based facilities, but also have been seen targeting organizations in Africa and Southeast Asia.
    • GANANITE targets critical infrastructure and government entities in the Commonwealth of Independent States and Central Asian nations. The group leverages publicly available proof of concept (POC) exploits for internet-exposed endpoints and focuses on espionage and data theft.
    • LAURIONITE targets and exploits Oracle E-Business Suite iSupplier web services and assets across aviation, automotive, and manufacturing industries. The group utilizes a combination of open-source offensive security tooling and public proof of concepts to aid in their exploitation of common vulnerabilities.
  • Geopolitical conflicts drove threat activity with regional and global kinetic events overlapping with OT cybersecurity threats. The Ukraine-Russia conflict prompted more mature threat groups, such as ELECTRUM, to increase activity, while tensions between China and Taiwan contributed to increased targeted cyber espionage attacks against industrial organizations in the Asia-Pacific region and the United States. ​
  • Hacktivists for the first timeachieved Stage 2 of the ICS Cyber Kill Chain, when CyberAv3ngers attacked programmable logic controllers (PLCs) used by water utilities across North America and Europe with an anti-Israel message. While hacktivist groups typically conduct distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks with minimal impact, this attack demonstrated the ability to disrupt OT systems by using unsophisticated methods with weak security controls. Other active hacktivist groups included CyberArmyofRussia_Reborn, NoName057(16), Anonymous Sudan, and Team Insane Pakistan.
  • Ransomware remains the number one attack in the industrial sector increasing 50% from 2022. Lockbit caused 25% of total industrial ransomware attacks, with ALPHV and BlackBasta accounting for 9% each. Manufacturing continues to be the primary target of ransomware and accounted for 71% of all ransomware attacks. The majority of ransomware attacks impacted organizations in North America with 44% of incidents, followed by Europe at 32%. Dragos tracked 50 ransomware variants in 2023, a 28% increase over last year.
  • The number of vulnerabilities that require authentication to exploit is rising, pointing to a positive trend for OT defenders. In 2023, 34% of CVEs required some authentication compared to 25% of CVEs in 2020. On the other hand, of the 2010 vulnerabilities impacting industrial environments disclosed last year, 14% contained erroneous information for prioritizing risks in ICS/OT.
  • Front Line Perspectives: Based on data gathered from annual customer service engagements conducted by Dragos’s cybersecurity experts in the field across the range of industrial sectors, the top challenges industrial organizations need to address are:
    • Lack of Sufficient Security Controls: 28% of service engagements involved issues with improper network segmentation or improperly configured firewalls.
    • Improper Network Segmentation: Approximately 70% of OT-related incidents originated from within the IT environment.
    • Lack of Separate IT & OT User Management: 17% of organizations had a shared domain architecture between their IT and OT systems, the most common method of lateral movement and privilege escalation.
    • External Connections to the ICS Environment: Dragos observed four threat groups exploiting public-facing devices and external services and issued findings related to externally facing networks such as the internet in 20% of engagement reports.
Industry News

NATO Holding Largest Exercises in Decades

NATO announced its largest military exercises in years will begin next week – the last week in January. 90,000 personnel are set to participate in drills over several months. The drills are targeted at showing alliance forces can defend all of its territory right up to the border of Russia, according to NATO officials.

NATO has been reinforcing security on its eastern limits with Russia and Ukraine. This exercise is the largest of its kind since the Cold War. These war games are meant to deter Russia from Targeting member countries.

Industry News

Sentar Awarded DLA SBIR Contract to Enhance Operational Resiliency with Digital Twin Technology

Sentar announced that it has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). This contract will enable Sentar to integrate cyber attack protection technology into Digital Twin architectures to enhance operational resiliency and protect against emerging cyber threats in operational technology (OT) systems.

Under the SBIR Phase I Proof of Concept, Sentar will leverage its expertise in cybersecurity and innovative technologies to analyze, map, and predict cyber attacks against the Digital Twin of a small manufacturing system. By utilizing synthetic data on potential cyberattack vectors, Sentar aims to identify and counter cyberattacks at the intrusion detection layer before they can infiltrate the OT system. This groundbreaking approach will enable DLA to proactively defend against known and unknown vulnerabilities, ensuring the protection of critical network infrastructure, systems, and data.

“We are honored to be selected by the Defense Logistics Agency for this important SBIR contract,” said Gary Mayes, Senior Director of Research and Development at Sentar. “Integrating our cyber attack analysis and prediction technology into Digital Twin architectures will provide a new level of awareness and protection for operational technology systems, safeguarding them from malicious cyber actors and potential damage.”

Sentar says it is committed to delivering innovative solutions that address the evolving cybersecurity challenges faced by government agencies and organizations. With a strong track record of providing cutting-edge cybersecurity products and services, Sentar is well-positioned to support DLA’s mission of protecting operational technology systems from harmful cyber infiltrations.

The work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama starting immediately.

Industry News

EU Official Warns of Security Risks In Europe During Holidays

A “huge risk of terrorist attacks” during the Christmas holiday period has been mentioned by a senior EU official. The increased risk is due to the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the European Union’s home affairs commissioner, Ylva Johansson warned in early December.

The warning came after a fatal weekend attack near the Eiffel Tower in Paris. In spite of questions about the mental health of the suspect, it was stated that the perpetrator swore allegiance to the extremist Islamic State group before stabbing a tourist to death. Two others were injured with a hammer with a hammer.

“With the war between Israel and Hamas, and the polarization it causes in our society, with the upcoming holiday season, there is a huge risk of terrorist attacks in the European Union,” EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson told reporters.

“We saw (it happening) recently in Paris, unfortunately we have seen it earlier as well,” she said, at a gathering of EU interior ministers in Brussels. She provided no details about any police or security information that might have led to that warning.

Industry News

FEMA and TSA Administrators to Hold National Preparedness Month Event at Reagan National Airport, Announce Combined Efforts

Tomorrow, Sept. 12, 2023, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell and TSA Administrator David Pekoske will hold a press event at Reagan National Airport (DCA) to announce their partnership and combined efforts during National Preparedness Month, including a new Public Service Announcement. At DCA, both leaders will issue a call to action to all travelers ahead of what will be another busy holiday travel season.

National Preparedness Month takes place every September, and during this month-long campaign, FEMA and its partners emphasize the importance of being ready when a disaster strikes, or when other emergencies occur. Every traveler who passes through TSA’s airport security checkpoints has been impacted by a weather or other emergency event. FEMA and TSA will announce steps they are taking to prepare and how travelers can prepare as well.