Northrop Grumman Information Technology Selects Entrust To Secure FBI's Law Enforcement and Homeland Security Operations
21 Oct 2003
DALLAS - Entrust, Inc. [NASDAQ: ENTU], a global leader in securing digital identities and information, today announced a significant federal contract award from Northrop Grumman Information Technology (IT) for its Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) based secure solutions for deployment at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Entrust, along with Northrop Grumman IT's other teammates, PEC and Schlumberger, have partnered to provide the FBI with the solutions to properly authenticate individuals before granting them access to electronic information or systems; ensuring the secure and appropriate exchange of information between intelligence agencies and assets; and enabling FBI employees to transparently encrypt data, and digitally sign documents and email. The solution will initially be used by the FBI to strongly authenticate employees at FBI Headquarters utilizing Entrust Digital IDs and be extended to support the FBI's 50,000 users in the United States and abroad.
Following the findings of the March 2002 Webster Commission Report, FBI Director Robert Mueller announced the establishment of a new Security Division whose goal is to "build sufficient infrastructure and capability to successfully execute its responsibilities as a professional security organization." As a result, a Security Division Program Plan was released in September 2002 that called for a layered security or "Defense in Depth" strategy utilizing PKI to increase the level of security provided to users and information systems.
"Clearly the FBI understands that without cyber security, there is no physical security," said Bill Conner, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Entrust. "They have set an aggressive timetable to develop and deploy a secure PKI architecture that meets the IT security needs of their dedicated staff while also aiding to combat the growing threats against our citizens. Entrust looks forward to working with Northrop Grumman IT and the FBI to meet and exceed their expectations."
"Northrop Grumman IT brings industry leadership in systems integration and management of information assurance, PKI and smart card projects to meet the FBI's requirements," said Jim Perriello, president, Government Solutions, Northrop Grumman IT. "Northrop Grumman selected Entrust because of its demonstrated leadership in PKI-based solutions and extensive government knowledge gained through numerous successful deployments."
Entrust has a highly successful track record in partnering with law enforcement. For example, since 1997, the Criminal Information-Sharing Alliance (CISA) has been enabling secure information sharing among law enforcement agencies in the southwest states and with Federal law enforcement agencies utilizing Entrust's technology. CISA has established its network, CISAnet, utilizing Entrust security solutions to strongly authenticate users, encrypt data and e-mails, and digitally sign documents and communications. Championed as a model for federal law enforcement, the system was recently expanded to include data sharing regarding money laundering, weapons violations, sex offenders, missing persons, criminal histories, and a number of homeland security initiatives.
Entrust is a leading security solution provider for more than 320 global government customers and has deployed cyber security solutions in more than 50 U.S. Federal government departments and agencies, including Department of Energy, Department of Agriculture National Finance Center (USDA/NFC), Treasury Department, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), NASA, Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and more.