Short Takes – 2-21-24

Why Bloat Is Still Software’s Biggest Vulnerability. Spectrum.IEEEE.com article. Pull quote: “Another problem is that we often don’t know what code we are actually shipping. Software has gotten huge. In 1995 Niklaus Wirth lamented that software had grown to megabytes in size. In his article “A Plea for Lean Software,” he went on to describe his Oberon operating system, which was only 200 kilobytes, including an editor and a compiler. There are now projects that have more than 200 KB for their configuration files alone.”

White House announces new actions to mitigate cybersecurity threats at US ports. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “First, President Biden will sign an executive order that will bolster the Department of Homeland Security’s authority to address maritime cyber threats, Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology, announced.”

Commercial spaceship set for lunar touchdown, in test for US industry. Phys.org article. Pull quote: “The company plans to run a live stream on its website, with flight controllers expected to confirm landing around 15 seconds after the milestone is achieved, because of the time it takes for radio signals to return.”

Posting of Informational Video: Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Program. Federal Register DOD notice of availability. Summary: “The Office of the Department of Defense Chief Information Officer (DoD CIO) has released an informational video to provide the public with an overview of the proposed rule for DoD's updated Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Program, which was published in the Federal Register on December 26, 2023 for public comment. The proposed rule establishes requirements for a comprehensive and scalable assessment mechanism to ensure defense contractors and subcontractors have, as part of the CMMC Program, implemented required existing security requirements for Federal Contract Information and Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) and adds new CUI security requirements for certain priority programs. This document announces that a video file containing an overview briefing of the CMMC proposed rule, presented by leadership and staff from the Office of the DoD Deputy CIO for Cybersecurity, was posted on the internet on February 14, 2024.”

Advisory Committee for Cyberinfrastructure; Notice of Meeting. Federal Register NSF meeting notice. Summary: “The final meeting agenda and instructions to register and attend the meeting will be posted on the ACCI website: https://www.nsf.gov/​cise/​oac/​advisory.jsp.”

NASA’s New Horizons Detects Dusty Hints of an Extended Kuiper Belt. Pluto.JHUAPL.edu article. Pull quote: “These readings come as New Horizons scientists, using observatories like the Japanese Subaru Telescope in Hawaii, have also discovered a number KBOs far beyond the traditional outer edge of the Kuiper Belt. This outer edge (where the density of objects starts to decline) was thought to be at about 50 AU, but new evidence suggests the belt may extend to 80 AU, or farther.”