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ECS, based in Fairfax, VA, announced on June 17 that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in partnership with the General Services Administration (GSA), has selected the company to design and deploy the next-generation Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM) Dashboard Ecosystem. The CDM Dashboard Ecosystem delivers cyber situational awareness data to the federal civilian agencies and summarizes risk exposure across the government at the federal level for DHS. The six-year task order was awarded under GSA’s Alliant 2 Governmentwide Acquisition Contract (GWAC) vehicle and has a total value of $276M.
The rising volume and velocity of cyber-attacks against government networks present a continued challenge for federal agencies. To strengthen defenses against these pervasive threats, DHS established the CDM Program. The program provides DHS and federal agencies with capabilities and tools to identify cybersecurity risks, prioritize risks based on impact, and mitigate the most significant problems first. The CDM Dashboard Ecosystem is central to this effort.
ECS will advance the dashboard to a state-of-the-art ecosystem that includes ongoing advancements in data visualization, data ingest, indexing, and search performance. Cyber analytics will be delivered using leading-edge business intelligence, artificial intelligence, and machine learning technologies. New capabilities to be provided in the ecosystem include a threat intelligence platform for government-wide threat indicator sharing, integration of the AWARE risk-scoring algorithm, and rollout of security orchestration automation and response (SOAR) tools in order to automate key vulnerability remediation and defensive cyber operations.
Beyond the advancements in dashboard technologies proposed by ECS, the solution delivery emphasizes end-user adoption and user proficiency, including a more intuitive environment and easier paths to discover and act on cyber data. The scope of the CDM Dashboard Ecosystem award also includes cloud hosting, security operations, system accreditation, and tiered support services.
“DHS has set a high bar, pushing the limits of the possible, for a solution that must work seamlessly at the scale and complexity of the federal government and still be cost-effective,” said Aaron Faulkner, vice president of cybersecurity at ECS. “Our team is passionate about the CDM mission. We took DHS’ challenge to heart, prototyping and evaluating numerous commercial and open source technologies, resulting in a flexible and open solution architecture that is purposefully engineered to evolve and grow with the mission and cybersecurity needs of DHS.”
Under the task order, ECS will work closely with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) HS and CDM Dynamic and Evolving Federal Enterprise Network Defense (DEFEND) systems integrators at the agency level to ensure the successful rollout, adoption, and continuous optimization of the dashboard. The CDM Dashboard Ecosystem is a central component to the overall multi-billion dollar DEFEND program and solutions.
“We are thrilled by DHS’ decision to select ECS to lead and innovate this program and capability,” said George Wilson, president of ECS. “I could not be more proud of the leaders, architects, developers, and engineers at ECS that have dedicated themselves to cybersecurity and to the CISA mission.”
Source: ECS
