COLUMBIA, Md.—To make room for expansion and better position itself to handle increasing demand for cyber security services, General Dynamics [GD] has opened a new laboratory here that provides network forensic services to help mitigate cyber attacks and develop solutions to prevent attacks.
The staffing levels at the lab are expected to grow between 20 and 25 percent annually in the next few years to meet the growing demand for cyber forensic services, Jim Jaeger, vice president of Cybersecurity Services at General Dynamics Fidelis Cybersecurity Solutions, told reporters yesterday during a briefing to showcase the new lab. GD acquired Fidelis last August, giving it new capabilities and products for cyber security but also commercial customers (Defense Daily, Aug. 21 and Aug. 29).
The forensic lab offers a variety of services, but typically is called upon after a company has experienced a cyber breach, and needs help stopping the attack and identifying the attack vector, any data that has been stolen, and who might be behind the attack. Fidelis relies either on its own products or other commercial cyber security tools to deconstruct an attack and help its customers characterize the attack and enhance their security going forward, Jaeger said.
Even if a cyber attack hasn’t affected any of Fidelis’ customers, the company’s customers often still have need for its services. For example, after the Saudi Arabian Oil Co.’s computer network was hit by a malware attack last summer that resulted in the hard drive of 30,000 computers being nearly wiped out, Fidelis, with a copy of the attack virus, was able to simulate the attack and then provide its customers with the threat signatures that they need to look out for, Jaeger said.
The company has already done the same this week following the cyber attacks that affected a number of businesses and organizations in South Korea, Jaeger said.
Fidelis is a small business unit within GD’s Advanced Information Systems division. It has about 140 employees, 15 of which work in the lab in Columbia. Fidelis also has about 30 employees in San Antonio, Texas, that help with forensic examinations and also provide services to the Air Force Cyber Command there.
Cyber threats against commercial businesses are generating much of the increased demand for Fidelis’ products and services. Overall during the next three years, Fidelis expects to grow between 40 and 45 percent annually for its products and services, with demand from commercial businesses exceeding this rate, Peter George, president of General Dynamics Fidelis Cybersecurity Solutions, told reporters.
Five years ago Fidelis did about 80 percent of its business with the federal government and the rest in the commercial space, George said. Now that split is 60-40 in favor of the commercial sector, he said.
George said demand from commercial customers began taking off the past few years as these companies wanted more than just cyber security products that detect threat. The companies also wanted Fidelis’ expertise in helping its federal clients protect classified information, he said.
“That kind of situational awareness about the market and what the customers really needed made our acquisition by General Dynamics of Fidelis really important,” George said.
George noted that Fidelis had a customer advisory board meeting last week with five of its top customers, two of which are from Europe, and one of themes that emerged was the need for more information sharing between the public and private sectors about cyber threats. He said for GD that means taking its experience in classified settings with its federal customers around cyber security, “leaving the classified information” behind, while bringing the expertise to its commercial customers.