CyberdefenseRaytheon-led team to provide the Pentagon with network-security early warning system

A team led by Raytheon has been awarded a $28 million contract from the Pentagon to provide an early-warning system for defense against cyber attacks on military networks.
The program in question is referred to by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) as “Network Operations Situational Awareness” or NetOps SA. Lewis Page writes that NetOps SA is just one of the netwar systems the agency intends to procure in coming years, under the general heading Arming the Cyber Warrior (see Powerpoint presentation) According to DISA, NetOps SA will primarily use two “classified thin client web applications” known as the Global Information Grid Customizable Operational Picture (GIGCOP) and the User-Defined Operational Picture (CND UDOP). The new NetOps SA deal with Raytheon will see these tools integrated into one system and further developed.

“Our work providing end-to-end cybersecurity to the GIG networks is a valuable guide as we design a robust system to protect the DoD’s sensitive information,” said Andy Zogg, vice president of Raytheon Network Centric Systems Command and Control Systems.

Page notes that it seems that the UDOP app at least was originally developed by General Dynamics, who are now part of the NetOps SA consortium along with Raytheon, SAIC, Eye Street Software, and BCMC.

Overall the purpose of NetOps SA seems to be to act as a kind of early-warning screen for network-defense sysadmin cyberwarriors, letting them know at once when unauthorized intruders begin to probe and meddle with their networks. As Raytheon put it, NetOps SA will “enable the Department of Defense to quickly detect network intrusions and assess the overall health of its network.”

Raytheon is pushing into cyberwar gear, having recently unveiled their SureView “government insider threat management” spy- or mole-sniffer technology.