Secure Decisions Wins Homeland Security Contract to Reduce Wireless Risks to Critical Infrastructures

NORTHPORT, NY, December 17, 2010 (Press-News.org) Secure Decisions, working with the Long Island Forum for Technology (LIFT), has been awarded a contract funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Under the project called "WildCAT," Secure Decisions will conduct research on detecting rogue wireless access points near high-value targets. The work includes instrumenting security patrol cars with wireless intrusion detection tools to detect unauthorized wireless devices near critical infrastructure. Secure Decisions will adapt its wireless security visualization product, MeerCAT , to help security teams analyze the data collected by the patrol cars and report detected threats.

As cited in the U.S. GAO report on Critical Infrastructure Protection, "Cyber risks to [our nation's] critical infrastructures are substantial and increasing." Anita D'Amico, Director of Secure Decisions, further adds, "Critical physical infrastructures, such as power distribution, transportation, and emergency services, are dependent on interconnected computer networks, and therefore vulnerable to wireless threats. Through this project with LIFT, Secure Decisions will instrument security patrol cars with the same tools used by IT security personnel to assess wireless risks. They will also give the physical security staff visual reports that show the location of rogue wireless access points, helping their patrols find the unauthorized wireless devices."

The WildCAT project will build on the integrated set of visual tools in MeerCAT. MeerCAT is a government and commercial off-the-shelf product that helps users analyze and report on authorized and unauthorized wireless device risks to their critical assets. The visualization platform augments existing wireless security tools with the ability to analyze large data collection by visually depicting and correlating the data. As a result, security professionals can more easily detect and communicate wireless vulnerabilities and threats.

This contract is one of the first DHS awards under the new Morrelly Homeland Security Center. Frank Otto, President states, "Secure Decisions was selected for this contract based on their success in developing and applying new visualization technology to solve difficult cyber security problems. LIFT views this contract with Secure Decisions as a significant opportunity to accelerate the transfer of their MeerCAT technology to help better protect our nation's critical infrastructure."

MeerCAT was initially developed for the U.S. military and intelligence agencies under a Department of Defense Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project. MeerCAT is actively used today in a range of federal government, military, and business applications including analyzing wardrives to detect wireless devices that are non-compliant with regulatory guidelines.

Secure Decisions is a Resident Research Partner at the Morrelly Homeland Security Center in Bethpage, NY. The Center was founded to provide local government and first responders with a facility to accelerate innovation and serve as a regional crisis control center.