The US Government’s $1B Contract To Fight Cybercrime

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security awarded intelligence, information and services business Raytheon one of the largest civilian cybersecurity orders in years, The Washington Post reported yesterday (Sept. 29).

Raytheon Company will act as the prime contractor and systems integrator providing mission critical cybersecurity solutions for Homeland Security’s Network Security Deployment division, which supports the protection of networks against advanced cyberthreats for more than 100 federal civilian government agencies.

The period of performance for the contract is five years, with the option to extend specific orders for an additional 24 months, and could be valued at approximately $1 billion, the company said.

The contract scope will reportedly include design, development and operations/maintenance services.

“Today’s cyberthreats are increasingly pervasive and serious, and our government and private sector institutions require the best protection possible,” Dave Wajsgras, president of Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services, stated in a news release.

“Raytheon has invested over $3.5 billion in recent years to build our cybersecurity capabilities, and we’re looking forward to bringing the very best and most innovative solutions to the Department of Homeland Security.”

According to Wajsgras, cybersecurity incidents have grown to an average of 66 percent a year globally between 2009 and 2014.

In another federal effort to defend against the ever-increasing threat of cybercrime, the National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace (NSTIC) announced last week it has funded $3.7 million to three new pilot programs aimed at strengthening initiatives to safeguard the online data that makes up our digital identities.

Since being established by the Obama Administration back in 2011, NSTIC has distributed more than $34 million to a total of 15 pilot programs, all aimed at breaking down barriers to an Identity Ecosystem, which it defines as “an online environment where individuals and organizations are able to trust each other because they follow agreed-upon standards to obtain and authenticate their digital identities — and the digital identities of devices.”

The separate pilot programs are tasked with creating privacy-enhancing technologies related to an array of identity solutions, including the prevention of tax refund theft, the improvement of medical information security and the enhancement of online data storage.

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