DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: General Dynamics Awarded $78 Million Cyber Operations Contract By U.S. Navy

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: General Dynamics Awarded $78 Million Cyber Operations Contract By U.S. Navy

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources General Dynamics

(NSI News Source Info)

FAIRFAX, Va.,

- March 1, 2011:

General Dynamics has been awarded a $78.4 million multiple-award, indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract by the U.S. Navy to examine the science, architecture, engineering, functionality, interface and interoperability of cyberspace systems at the tactical, operational and strategic levels. The contract was awarded by the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific, San Diego, Calif.

The contract is one of four awarded by the Navy. The contract has a total potential value of $204 million over five years if all options are exercised.

Under the contract, General Dynamics will provide basic and applied cyberspace research, digital forensics and reverse engineering capabilities, information operations expertise, cyber mission planning, doctrine and policy development, as well as modeling and simulation. General Dynamics will also provide software design and implementation as well as systems integration, test and evaluation and demonstration.

"As a cyber systems integrator, General Dynamics offers a full breadth of cyber domain capability, as well as the ability to tap into the technologies of our strategic partners," said John Jolly, vice president and general manager of General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems' Cyber Systems division. "Utilizing best-in-breed technologies and building unique mission-specific cyber tools for a comprehensive approach to cyber operations, we will help ensure the Navy achieves its mission at sea and in cyber space."

The General Dynamics team, led by General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, includes General Dynamics Information Technology and General Dynamics C4 Systems, as well as 39 other defense contractors, commercial providers and academic partners. A majority of the work will be done in San Diego and San Antonio, Texas.

For more information about General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, please visit www.gd-ais.com.

More information about General Dynamics C4 Systems is available online at www.gdc4s.com.

More information about General Dynamics Information Technology is available online at www.gdit.com.

More information about General Dynamics is available online at www.generaldynamics.com.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources

General Dynamics

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DTN News: Northrop Grumman's Cybersecurity Team Receives Army Information Operations Award Potentially Worth $430 Million

DTN News: Northrop Grumman's Cybersecurity Team Receives Army Information Operations Award Potentially Worth $430 Million *Source: DTN News / Northrop Grumman (NSI News Source Info) RESTON, Va., - August 26, 2009: Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) received an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract from the U.S. Army to continue providing full-spectrum information operations (IO) and computer networks operations (CNO) to the 1st Information Operations Command (Land), Fort Belvoir, Va., and its regional Computer Emergency Response Teams. The single award is valued at $430 million over five years if all options are exercised. The contract was awarded by the Army's Intelligence and Security Command, Fort Belvoir. Northrop Grumman has provided IO and CNO support to the Army's 1st Information Operations Command since 1997. "Secure and efficient network operations are critical in today's cyber warfare environment. We are pleased to continue working this vital effort for the Army and applying our leading-edge cyber security and IO expertise to help the warfighter assure mission success," said Dan Allen, vice president and general manager of the Intelligence Systems Division for Northrop Grumman Information Systems sector. "Our experience with the military and our position as a leading provider of IO services to the federal government uniquely qualify us to support the integration of IO as a force multiplier." IO is an integrating activity that coordinates multiple battlefield functions such as: electronic warfare, military deception, psychological warfare, operations security and CNO to disrupt enemy decision-making while protecting information necessary for U.S. warfighters to make critical decisions. Northrop Grumman's teammates include JB Management, Alexandria, Va.; Quantum Research International Inc., Huntsville, Ala.; Lockheed Martin, Bethesda, Md.; SAIC, San Diego; and Booz Allen Hamilton and QinetiQ North America, both of McLean, Va. Northrop Grumman is an industry leader in all aspects of computer network operations and cyber security. Northrop Grumman is offering customers innovative solutions to help secure the nation's cyber future. Northrop Grumman Corporation is a leading global defense company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems, shipbuilding and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide.

DTN News: Northrop Grumman Opens Cyber Security Operations Center

DTN News: Northrop Grumman Opens Cyber Security Operations Center

*New Cyber Center to Protect Company's Global Digital Infrastructure and Defend Against Intrusions and Cybercrime

*Source: DTN News / Northrop Grumman Corporation (NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON., USA - July 31, 2009: Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) last week opened a new, state-of-the-art Cyber Security Operations Center (CSOC), a comprehensive cyber threat detection and response center that focuses on protecting Northrop Grumman and its customers' networks and data worldwide. Northrop Grumman opened a new, state-of-the-art Cyber Security Operations Center, a comprehensive cyber threat detection and response center that focuses on protecting Northrop Grumman and its customers' networks and data worldwide. The opening was announced today during a press briefing at the National Press Club, where company officials also briefed reporters on Northrop Grumman's cybersecurity capabilities. The CSOC is a world-class facility that delivers the company's core security services and innovative solutions developed for the Northrop Grumman network and its customers. Located in suburban Maryland, the CSOC is staffed around-the-clock, providing security monitoring for more than 105,000 clients and 10,000 servers worldwide. "Northrop Grumman has one of private industry's largest and most sophisticated digital infrastructures," said Tim McKnight, vice president and chief information security officer of Northrop Grumman Information Systems sector. "The growing sophistication of cyber threats requires that we take assertive and holistic measures to defend our network and protect critical information assets. To respond, Northrop Grumman has integrated the latest cyber security technologies to meet this threat head-on. Along with more than a decade of expertise in information security for .mil and .gov customers, this new center creates a game-changing capability that will not only better protect our networks, but will keep pace with the ever-changing nature of the threat. Equally important, what we learn can be directly applied to our cyber customers." This 6,300 square foot facility is equipped with a large classified conference facility and secure connectivity to numerous customer networks. The heart of the CSOC is the security operations center floor, where analysts use customized tools to monitor and process more than 1.5 billion daily cyber events that occur on the Northrop Grumman network. "Advanced technology is key to defending any network, but it is the experience and curiosity of our analysts that allow us to proactively identify cybersecurity vulnerabilities," added McKnight. "They keep our network resilient and secure by constantly trying to make connections, determine if events are random or not. It's like a cyber 'CSI'." At the CSOC, incident handlers respond to suspected security incidents; computer forensic examiners collect and analyze evidence from digital media; a technical team develops and deploys solutions and systems used within the CSOC; intelligence operators analyze and report on internal and external threats; and computer network defense experts design and develop security capabilities that can identify advanced threats. Many of these internal capabilities are even replicated in Northrop Grumman's external delivery as the Tier One security provider to multiple government agencies. Northrop Grumman is an industry leader in all aspects of computer network operations and cyber security, offering customers innovative solutions to help secure the nation's cyber future. Northrop Grumman is the first company to be able to share a trusted identity with its U.S. Department of Defense customer through secure encrypted email. For more information about Northrop Grumman in cybersecurity, go to www.northropgrumman.com/cybersecurity/index.html. Northrop Grumman Corporation is a leading global security company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems, shipbuilding and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide.

DTN News: Raytheon, SafeNet Demonstrate Cybersecure Networking Solution For U.S. Army

DTN News: Raytheon, SafeNet Demonstrate Cybersecure Networking Solution For U.S. Army

*Information assurance solution delivers secure communications

*Source: DTN News / Raytheon Company (NSI News Source Info) MARLBOROUGH, Mass., - July 31, 2009: Raytheon Company and SafeNet Inc. recently partnered to demonstrate a new technology that secures radio communication among warfighters. Raytheon exhibited its DragonFire family of radios with SafeNet's Type 1 encryptor at the U.S. Army Cryptographic Modernization Technology Day in June 2009 at Fort Monmouth, N.J. Together these technologies provide secure streaming video and data, in a mobile ad hoc network environment, on various platforms such as fixed and rotary wing aircraft, light armored vehicles and fixed locations. Type 1 qualification is provided by the National Security Agency and authorizes equipment for handling classified data. "This cybersecurity solution addresses a critical need in current military communications by allowing only authorized users to communicate in a secure network environment," said Jerry Powlen, vice president, Network Centric Systems Integrated Communications Systems. "Raytheon leverages more than 20 years' experience designing and building crypto-enabled solutions to provide the warfighter the most secure technology." "SafeNet has more than 25 years of leadership developing advanced encryption solutions for technologies like the DragonFire radios," said Jim Summers, corporate vice president and general manager, SafeNet's Government Enterprise Data Protection Division. "With SafeNet's world-class team of encryption engineers, we continue to develop innovations for tomorrow's critical government needs." In 2007, SafeNet was acquired by Vector Capital, a $2 billion private equity firm. Vector Capital acquired Aladdin in March 2009, and placed it under common management with SafeNet. Together, these leading global companies are the third largest information security company in the world. SafeNet's encryption technology solutions protect communications, intellectual property and digital identities for enterprises and government organizations. SafeNet has more than 25 years of security expertise in more than 100 countries around the world. For more information, visit http://www.safenet-inc.com/ Raytheon Company, with 2008 sales of $23.2 billion, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 87 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control communications and intelligence systems, as well as a broad range of mission support services. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 73,000 people

DTN News: US Government Lacks Tech Talent For Cyber Defense ~ Analysis

DTN News: US Government Lacks Tech Talent For Cyber Defense ~ Analysis

*Source: DTN News / Defense Media

(NSI News Source Info) SAN FRANCISCO, USA - July 25, 2009: Bureaucracy and a shortage of employees with technology prowess have left the US government without the talent it needs to defend against cyber attacks, a study warned Wednesday. "The results of this research are troubling and, in many ways, familiar," said the authors of the report, which is intended to check the status of the federal cybersecurity workforce. "The overriding finding of our analysis is that our federal government will be unable to combat these threats without a more coordinated, sustained effort to increase cybersecurity expertise in the federal workforce." The "pipeline of potential new talent" are inadequate, while complicated processes and rules hamper efforts to recruit and retain federal workers with needed technology skills for cybersecurity, according to the study, titled "Cyber IN-Security." It also found that there are conflicting views inside government regarding what technology talents are sought in new hires. The study surveyed 18 federal agencies and experts both inside and outside government, said the Partnership for Public Service, a non-profit group based in Washington that authored the study with consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. "Numerous factors hamper government's ability to build a top-notch cybersecurity workforce, making it difficult to fill critical talent gaps," the study concluded. US leaders, it suggested, need to vastly improve the way government hires, manages, and cultivates employees with technology talent. Congress and the White House should also promote and support students learning math and science skills to bolster the future pool of cyber security workers, the study concluded.

DTN News: U.S. Creates Command For Cyber Battlefield

DTN News: U.S. Creates Command For Cyber Battlefield

*Sources: DTN News / AFP

(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON - June 24, 2009: The U.S. military on June 23 announced a new "cyber command" designed to wage digital warfare and to bolster defenses against mounting threats to its computer networks. Defense Secretary Robert Gates formally established the command - the country's first - that would operate under U.S. Strategic Command, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. The command will begin operating in October and be fully operational in October 2010, Whitman said. The US military announced a new "cyber command" designed to wage digital warfare. The precise details of US cyber military power remain secret, but it includes technology capable of penetrating and jamming networks, including the classified Suter airborne system, analysts say. The move reflects a shift in military strategy with "cyber dominance" now part of U.S. war doctrine and comes amid growing alarm over the perceived threat posed by digital espionage coming from China, Russia and elsewhere. U.S. officials say China has built up a sophisticated cyber warfare program and that a spate of intrusions in the United States and elsewhere can be traced back to Chinese sources. The officer widely expected to lead the command is Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander, the director of the super-secret National Security Agency (NSA). Alexander has described cyberspace as the new military frontier that could shape the future of national security, comparing it to sea or air power. The Defense Department said the command would streamline various cyber efforts across the armed forces and would focus on military networks. Officials have said the command would likely be located at Fort Meade, Maryland and that the Pentagon would not be taking over security efforts for civilian networks from other government agencies. The U.S. military relies on 15,000 networks and about seven million computers, with more than 100 foreign intelligence agencies trying to hack into U.S. networks, according to Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn. "Our defense networks are constantly under attack," Lynn said in a speech last week. "They are probed thousands of times a day. They are scanned millions of times a day. And the frequency and sophistication of attacks are increasing exponentially," he said. The threat ranges from teenage hackers to criminal gangs acting as cyber mercenaries to foreign governments, Lynn said. Lynn cited cyberattacks that shut down Georgia's government and commercial web sites during Russia's military incursion last year. Defense officials have said the cyber command would focus on security efforts along with offensive capabilities to ensure "freedom of action in cyberspace" for the United States. The precise details of U.S. cyber military power remain secret, but it includes technology capable of penetrating and jamming networks, including the classified Suter airborne system, analysts say. The technology has been reportedly added to unmanned aircraft and allows for users to take over and manipulate enemy sensors. Reported breaches of the U.S. electricity grid and of networks used by aerospace contractors building the F-35 fighter jet have underlined concerns over cyber security. Last year, several thousand computers in the Defense Department were infected by malicious software, prompting the military to ban troops and civilian staff from using external memory devices and thumb drives. In the proposed defense budget for fiscal 2010, the administration has proposed increasing funds for training to triple the number of cyber security experts from 80 to 250 per year. President Barack Obama has put a top priority on cyber security and announced plans for a national cyber defense coordinator. A recent White House policy review said that "cybersecurity risks pose some of the most serious economic and national security challenges of the 21st century." Obama has promised privacy rights would be carefully safeguarded even as the government moves to step up efforts to protect sensitive civilian and military networks.

President Barack Obama Outlines Coordinated Cyber-Security Plan

DTN News: President Barack Obama Outlines Coordinated Cyber-Security Plan

(NSI News Source Info) WASHINGTON - May 30, 2009: President Obama declared Friday that the country’s disparate efforts to “deter, prevent, detect and defend” against cyberattacks would now be run out of the White House, but he also promised that he would bar the federal government from regular monitoring of “private-sector networks” and the Internet traffic that has become the backbone of American communications. Mr. Obama’s speech, which was accompanied by the release of a long-awaited new government strategy, was an effort to balance the United States’ response to a rising security threat with concerns — echoing back to the debates on wiretapping without warrants in the Bush years — that the government would be regularly dipping into Internet traffic that knew no national boundaries. One element of the strategy clearly differed from that established by the Bush administration in January 2008. Mr. Obama’s approach is described in a 38-page public document being distributed to the public and to companies that are most vulnerable to cyberattack; Mr. Bush’s strategy was entirely classified. But Mr. Obama’s policy review was not specific about how he would turn many of the goals into practical realities, and he said nothing about resolving the running turf wars among the Pentagon, the National Security Agency, the Homeland Security Department and other agencies over the conduct of defensive and offensive cyberoperations. The White House approach appears to place a new “cybersecurity coordinator” over all of those agencies. Mr. Obama did not name the coordinator Friday, but the policy review said that whoever the president selects would be “action officer” inside the White House during cyberattacks, whether they were launched on the United States by hackers or governments. In an effort to silence critics who have complained that the official will not have sufficient status to cut through the maze of competing federal agencies, Mr. Obama said the new coordinator would have “regular access to me,” much like the coordinator for nuclear and conventional threats. Many computer security executives had been hoping that Mr. Obama’s announcement would represent a turning point in the nation’s unsuccessful effort to turn back a growing cybercrime epidemic. On Friday, several said that while the president’s attention sounded promising, much would depend on whom he chose to fill the role. James A. Lewis, a director at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, a Washington group that published a bipartisan report last year calling on the president to appoint a cyberczar, said that the White House had now narrowed the list of candidates for the position to fewer than 10, but that choosing the right person would be difficult. “There aren’t a lot of people who have the policy and the strategy skills and the technological knowledge to carry this out,” Mr. Lewis said. “If you’re talking about missiles and space, there are a lot of people who know policy and technology, but in cyber its such a new field we’re talking about a really small gene pool.” For the first time, Mr. Obama also spoke of his own brush with cyberattacks, in the presidential campaign. “Between August and October, hackers gained access to e-mails and a range of campaign files, from policy position papers to travel plans,” he said, describing events that were known, though sketchily, at the time. “It was,” he said, “a powerful reminder: in this information age, one of your greatest strengths — in our case, our ability to communicate to a wide range of supporters through the Internet — could also be one of your greatest vulnerabilities.” Mr. Obama’s speech delved into technology rarely discussed in the East Room of the White House. He referred to “spyware and malware and spoofing and phishing and botnets,” all different approaches to what he called “weapons of mass disruption.” Although the president did not discuss details of the expanding role for the military in offensive and pre-emptive cyberoperations, senior officials said Friday that the Pentagon planned to create a new cybercommand to organize and train for digital war, and to oversee offensive and defensive operations. A lingering disagreement has been how to coordinate that new command with the work of the National Security Agency, home to most of the government’s expertise on computer and network warfare. One plan now under discussion would put the same general in charge of both the new cybercommand and the N.S.A. Currently, the security agency’s director is Lt. Gen. Keith B. Alexander, who would be expected to be the leading contender for the new, dual position. Industry executives were generally supportive of the initiative Mr. Obama announced, but also cautious. “There was nothing I was disappointed in,” said Mark Gerencser, a cybersecurity executive at Booz Allen Hamilton, a consulting firm that deals extensively in the government’s cybersecurity strategy. Mr. Hamilton noted that the United States had separated defense and offense in the cybersecurity arena, while its opponents, including Russia and China, had a more fluid strategy. “It’s like we’re playing football and our adversaries are playing soccer,” he said. Thom Shanker contributed reporting from Washington.

Cyberwar Spam Down But "Zombie" Armies Growing: McAfee / Zombie Computer Army Targets Bank Account Passwords

Cyberwar Spam Down But "Zombie" Armies Growing: McAfee / Zombie Computer Army Targets Bank Account Passwords

(NSI News Source Info) SAN FRANCISCO - May 11, 2009: Hackers appear to be beefing up armies of "zombie" computers to recover from a major hit scored in the battle against spam email, according to software security firm McAfee. A McAfee report said that during the first three months of this year, nearly 12 million new computers were added to the ranks of machines infected with "malware" that lets cybercriminals use them to spew spam. The United States unseated China as the country with the most "botnet-infected" computers, accounting for 18 percent of the world's "zombie machines" as compared with China's 13.4 percent, according to McAfee. Australia "rocketed" to third place on the list with 6.3 percent of the world's zombie computers after not even being it into the Top 10 list at the end of last year. The ominous news came with word that the amount of spam dropped 20 percent during the same period, evidently as a result of the elimination of a "McColo" spam-generating operation late last year. The rate of spam email dropped from an average 153 billion daily last year to 100 billion a day in March, according to the McAfee report released Tuesday. "Seems the bad guys are attempting to recover from last November's takedown of a central spam-hosting ISP by rebuilding their army," researchers said in a McAfee Threats Report for the first quarter of 2009. The United States unseated China as the country with the most "botnet-infected" computers, accounting for 18 percent of the world's "zombie machines" as compared with China's 13.4 percent, according to McAfee. Australia "rocketed" to third place on the list with 6.3 percent of the world's zombie computers after not even being it into the Top 10 list at the end of last year. "The Land Down Under is proving to be fertile ground for zombie recruiting," McAfee researchers wrote. Despite the international nature of botnets, spammers seem to prefer sending the unwanted email from the United States, which McAfee said was the source of 35 percent of the messages as compared to 7.3 percent from second-place Brazil. Cybercriminals are also increasingly rigging legitimate websites to sneak viruses onto visitors' computers, according to McAfee. Threat researchers reported discovering in March more than 800 new versions of a Koobface virus tailored to attack users of hot social-networking website Facebook. "Servers hosting legitimate content have increased in popularity with malware writers as a means for distributing malicious and illegal content," McAfee reported. Cybercrooks have "deeply compromised" computers at key Russian and Eastern European corporations and government agencies, according to McAfee. "The Internet knows no geographical boundaries," researchers said in the report. "It is now apparent that cybercriminals will attack any target of opportunity they can find." Spam levels are the lowest the world has seen in two years, but are expected to rise. "The question is not whether spam will return to previous levels, but rather when it will return," McAfee said. "There is data regarding new zombie and botnet creation that suggest the time may not be too far in the future."

South Korea, U.S. Sign Pact On Joint Cyber-Defense

South Korea, U.S. Sign Pact On Joint Cyber-Defense

(NSI News Source Info) SEOUL - May 5, 2009: South Korean and U.S. military authorities have agreed to work together on information assurance and computer network defense by creating a mechanism to assure freer sharing of information and technologies. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed April 30 by Woo Joo-ha, who runs the planning and coordination office of the Ministry of National Defense, and John Grimes, U.S. assistant defense secretary for networks and information integration, said the May 4 MND release. "The MoU, in particular, will help South Korea improve its cyber-defense capability and increase the interoperability on joint cyber-defense operations and information-sharing after Seoul takes over wartime operational control of its troops from the U.S. military in 2012," a ministry spokesman told reporters. The pact can be abrogated within 15 years based on mutual consent, he said. By 2012, the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command is to be disbanded and two separate theater commands will be set up on the Korean Peninsula under a 2007 agreement on command rearrangements. Concerns have been raised that South Korea, unlike under the combined force mechanism, would not acquire the same level of classified information and intelligence on North Korea after the wartime control transition. South Korea and the U.S. have held a military information sharing conference annually since 2005, but the level of information sharing has remained at a low level, said the spokesman. Under the agreement, both sides will be able to share up to "second-level" classified information if required, he said. The two sides will hold a new conference on information-sharing assurance and joint defense for computer network systems at least once a year under the latest agreement, he added. South Korea plans to expand its participation in international cyber-defense exercises to test and evaluate its accrued skills against cyber attacks, he noted. The Pentagon holds an international cyber-defense exercise annually that draws about 15 nations, ministry officials said. The South Korean military first took part in the exercise last year and is preparing to join the upcoming exercises in June and October, they said. South Korean authorities have seen no cyber attacks from North Korea, but have been bracing for a possible salvo in case of an emergency. The communist North is known to have established a cyber warfare unit, codenamed 121, in 1998. Report said the 10,000-personel unit has the technical capability to construct and deploy an array of cyber weapons. It has moderately advanced denial of service capabilities with moderate virus and malicious code capabilities.