Norse wins $1.9 million contract with DOE to protect energy infrastructure from cyber attacks

Norse, a supplier of live cyber attack intelligence, announced on Nov. 6 that it has been awarded a $1.9 million contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to provide the department with comprehensive live threat intelligence solutions, services and key integrations in support of the DOE’s Cybersecurity Risk Information Sharing Program (CRISP) that is managed by the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability.

The contract calls for Norse to provide national critical-infrastructure owners and operators in the energy sector with live cyber threat detection, proactive mitigation and reporting capabilities. Norse will also provide the DOE with access to its cloud-based live attack intelligence solutions, including Norse DarkList and Norse DarkViking.

“We are thrilled to be selected as the prime contractor for this immensely important project. Precise attack intelligence is essential for delivering operational efficiencies and security effectiveness throughout the organization’s entire security infrastructure”

A key part of this effort will involve Norse collaborating with FireEye, Inc. to tightly integrate Norse live attack intelligence solutions with FireEye hardware to provide live threat analysis of traffic within and outside of the networks of CRISP participants (energy companies).

“We are thrilled to be selected as the prime contractor for this immensely important project. Precise attack intelligence is essential for delivering operational efficiencies and security effectiveness throughout the organization’s entire security infrastructure,” said Sam Glines, CEO of Norse. “With accurate, dependable intelligence integrated and automated throughout the organization, preventative controls can block more attacks, incident detection solutions can have greater context for analysis, and response capabilities can more accurately prioritize incidents and assign resources where and when they are needed most. Such sophisticated intelligence will not only improve security ROI but also reduce network “noise” and greatly strengthen the organization’s overall security posture.”

Much of the work for DOE will focus on developing a next-generation approach to cross-vendor energy industry data sharing and reporting, leveraging automated Norse threat analysis tools and support services. The integrated Norse/FireEye solution will utilize Norse’s unparalleled live attack intelligence to better inform security appliances in energy sector deployments across the United States, so that operators can make better, faster and more effective security decisions.

DOE’s CRISP initiative seeks to promote the development and use of advanced technologies and innovative analytical capabilities that will help establish and maintain effective collaboration among energy sector partners, trade groups, NERC, DHS, FBI and the intelligence community, and support robust bi-directional information sharing that provides participants with actionable information for the detection, prevention, mitigation and rapid response to emerging threats.