FAA awarding security contract

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2001/0521/web-faa-05-23-01.asp

BY Paula Shaki Trimble 
05/23/2001 

The Federal Aviation Administration will be able to check off another
item on its list of information systems security initiatives when it
awards a contract in July for support of its Computer Security
Incident Response Capability (CSIRC).

The FAA announced Tuesday it plans to award a five-month, sole-source
contract to Computer Sciences Corp. to advise the FAA on intrusion
detection and response and to monitor intrusions, manage trouble
calls, issue alerts and advisories, administer the agencys secure Web
page, support analyses and report metrics.

The contract will have two options of two months each, according to
the FAA contract opportunity notice. Any follow-on efforts will be
openly competed, the FAA notice said.

CSC already is performing services and has proprietary tools in place,
the FAA notice said. Comments on the proposed award can be submitted
through May 28.

FAA chief information officer Daniel Mehan established the FAA Office
of Information Systems Security last spring. In an order from FAA
Administrator Jane Garvey, the agency was directed to create and
operate a CSIRC. In an interview in April, Mehan and Michael Brown,
director of the FAA Office of Information Systems Security, said one
of their priorities is to have a mature intrusion-detection and
response process.

"We are leaning on the research and development community to develop
software to filter and determine whether its a real attack," Brown
said. Brown and Mehan have already previewed some of that software.

Mehan said he wants more immediate distribution of virus and intrusion
alerts.



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