Private industry sees opportunities in cybersecurity

Cyberattacks are much in the news, and the defense industry continues to see the potential for billions in new cybersecurity business in the coming years. Already, market research reports show a lot of money being invested in protecting government computers.

Politico’s Jen Dimascio writes that Market Research Media predicts the government will spend $55 billion on cybersecurity between 2010 and 2015. INPUT, which researches government procurement, sees the federal-information security market increasing from $6.6 billion annually in 2008 to $9.6 billion in 2013.

Industry experts say, however, that the investment and the heightened government interest are not enough to stem the rising number of attacks by terrorist groups, potentially hostile nations and, increasingly, criminals out for a buck.

Dimascio quotes retired Vice Adm. Michael McConnell, the former director of national intelligence, who told senators Tuesday that “The federal government will spend more each year on missile defense than it does on cybersecurity, despite the fact that we are attacked thousands of times each day in cyberspace, and we are vulnerable to attacks of strategic significance, i.e., attacks that could destroy the global financial system and compromise the future and prosperity of our nation.” McConnell, who testified before the Senate Commerce Committee, said that “Securing cyberspace will require a more robust commitment in terms of leadership, policies, legislation and resources than has been evident in the past.”

General Dynamics, with about $2 billion in cyber-related business, will help the government ferret out the origins of cyberattacks when they occur. Dimascio notes that one of its major cyber contracts is to help run the world’s largest permanent cybercrime lab — the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center.

Within the defense community, a defense industry board created by former Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England has large defense firms sharing information about attacks and working together to assess the impact.

One participant is Lockheed Martin, the largest provider of information technology to the federal government, according to retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Charlie Croom, the former head of the Defense Information Systems Agency, and now vice president of cybersecurity solutions at Lockheed Martin.

As part of the government’s Comprehensive National Cyber Security Initiative, Lockheed recently won a $30 million contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop the National Cyber Range — an environment to test and defend against cyberweapons.

Along with that, Croom said, the company embeds protections in the networks it builds for government agencies, including NASA, the FBI and the Pentagon. It sees more business opportunities ahead in emerging areas such as protecting the nation’s energy grid and medical records.

General Dynamics sees similar opportunities. “The release of the budgets earlier this month indicate a growth in cyberspending across all the services,” Nadia Short, head of GD’s cuberdivision, said. “With that, as well as continuing the natural evolution of what cyber will mean for dot-gov and dot-mil, it will mean nothing but opportunity for private industry.”