The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) plans to modernize a key system and move it to the cloud to support better information sharing, improved data management, and enhanced security, according to a notice in the Federal Register released November 23.
The Maritime Analytic Support System (MASS) is set to become the modernized successor to the Maritime Awareness Global Network (MAGNet), bringing improvements for the system and enhancing the Coast Guard’s ability to collect, distribute, and use data. The system provides “storage and access to maritime information,” with functions to search across people and ships. As it collects personally identifiable information, the notice describes how the system will comply with the Privacy Act of 1974.
“The purpose of this system is to enhance the U.S. Coast Guard’s capabilities by developing a total picture of the maritime environment and the people, places, and things that affect it,” USCG notes.
The new MASS system will live in the cloud, “allowing USCG to apply new technologies to better tag data for retention, access, and use purposes,” according to the notice. The move to the cloud and modernization will also help the service branch “ingest new data sources on an as-needed basis in the future more easily,” according to the service branch.
“MASS enhances current capabilities by adding data sources, media storage, access capabilities, and infrastructure to provide rapid, near real-time data to the USCG and other authorized organizations,” the notice states.
The system will also be enhanced to support better authentication processes and friendlier user interfaces, USCG says.