MCLEAN, Va. and ADELPHI, Md., October
3, 2014
— The
U.S. Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
has selected The MITRE Corporation to operate the first federally funded
research and development center (FFRDC) solely dedicated to enhancing
cybersecurity and protecting national information systems. MITRE will partner with
the University System of Maryland (USM) to support the center.
The new FFRDC will support the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence
(NCCoE), which NIST, the state of Maryland, and Montgomery County, Md., established
in 2012 to help businesses secure their data and digital infrastructure by
bringing together information security experts from industry, government and academia.
MITRE will further the NCCoE’s goal to foster public-private collaborations to identify
and solve today’s most pressing cybersecurity challenges. Working with the
University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) and the University of Maryland,
Baltimore County (UMBC), two leading research institutions within the USM, MITRE
will carry out the goals of the new FFRDC in research, development, engineering
and technical support as well as operations and facilities planning.
“We’re honored that NIST
has chosen us to operate this new and timely cybersecurity-focused FFRDC,” said
Alfred Grasso, MITRE's president and chief executive officer. “Our work helping government and industry protect
their critical assets and our ongoing collaboration with the cybersecurity
community-particularly in advancing standards and facilitating
threat-sharing-nicely complements NCCoE's mission. Working
with our partners in the USM, we look forward to undertaking this work of significant
national importance.”
“We are thrilled to partner
with MITRE to support the nation’s first cybersecurity FFRDC,” said USM
Chancellor William E. “Brit” Kirwan. “With the combined knowledge base,
research and expertise in cybersecurity of the University of Maryland, College
Park, UMBC and MITRE, we look forward to meeting challenges the world faces in
cyber security and information assurance. This alliance will present phenomenal
opportunities for our faculty, staff and students to engage and work with our
partners at MITRE, the incredible personnel at NIST and our nation’s business
community.”
Cybersecurity is a core capability at MITRE, honed over more than
four decades of working closely with federal agencies to secure the country’s
critical infrastructure, both information-based and physical. As part of its
public interest mission, MITRE brings together government, commercial vendors
and academic institutions to advance new concepts, standards and solutions in cybersecurity
awareness, resiliency and threat-based defense.
“Cybersecurity is a common denominator for mission success for
all of the sponsors we support, defense and civilian,” said Gary Gagnon, MITRE
senior vice president and chief security officer. “We’re excited to apply our
collective experience to help the NCCoE advance the state of cybersecurity
practice across all sectors—industry, infrastructure owners and operators,
commercial solution providers, government and academia.”
The FFRDC will be
housed in the NCCoE’s state-of-the-art cybersecurity research lab in Rockville,
Md. MITRE anticipates that 40 information security professionals will staff the
FFRDC.
“The NCCoE is the best
of government working with world-class IT companies to make our country safer
and our economy more secure,” said U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski, Chairwoman
of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which funds NIST. "The NCCoE is a
hub for innovation and development. I congratulate the University System of
Maryland for partnering with MITRE to collaborate in support of the FFRDC. This
new center unites the knowledge of the government with the know-how of the
private sector to develop cyber technology tools needed to protect dot-com
entities and make our cyber infrastructure more resilient.”
About
The MITRE Corporation
The MITRE Corporation is a not-for-profit organization that
operates research and development centers sponsored by the federal government.
Our centers support our sponsors with scientific research and analysis,
development and acquisition, and systems engineering and integration. We also
have an independent research program that explores new and expanded uses of
technologies to meet our sponsors’ needs. Our principal locations are in
Bedford, Mass., and McLean, Va. To learn more, visit www.mitre.org.
About the University
System of Maryland
The University System of Maryland, the
state’s public higher education system, comprises 12 institutions, two regional
higher education centers, and a system office. The USM engages in research and
scholarship that expand the boundaries of current knowledge, and provides knowledge-based
programs and services that are responsive to the needs of the citizens of the
state and nation.
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