14 DAY TRIAL // The US General Services Administration (GSA) has announced a contract award that will allow federal, state and local government agencies to partner with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in an effort to enhance the security and resilience of their networks against cyberattacks.
As part of the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) program, the DHS will provide government agencies with the tools they need to protect their networks and improve their ability to identify and mitigate cyber threats.
The DHS will deploy and maintain sensors that will allow it to monitor software asset management, hardware asset management, vulnerability management, and compliance setting management. The cybersecurity risks identified by the system will be presented to agencies via an automated and continuously updated dashboard.
“Under the CDM program, participating departments and agencies will be able to enhance their cybersecurity assessments by implementing automated network sensor capacity and prioritizing risk alerts,” the DHS noted.
“Results will feed into agency-level dashboards that produce customized reports that alert information technology managers to the most critical cyber risks, enabling them to readily identify which network security issues to address first, thus enhancing the overall security posture of agency networks.”
As far as funding is concerned, the DHS has partnered with the GSA to award a five-year blanket purchase agreement contract with an estimated ceiling of $6 billion (€4.5 billion).
SecurityWeek reports that the vendors included in the contract award are IBM, SAIC, Booz Allen Hamilton, Computer Sciences Corporation, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Services, CGI Federal, Digital Management, Inc., and General Dynamics Information Technology.
Other companies are Knowledge Consulting Group, Dynamics Research Corporation, Kratos Technology and Training Solutions, ManTech International, SRA International, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Technica Corporation.