Parsons Corporation Joins Space ISAC Founding Board
Corporation Brings Decades of Space Domain Knowledge to ISAC Board
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO, December 11, 2019 – Today, the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) and the National Cybersecurity Center (NCC) announced that Parsons Corporation (NYSE: PSN) has become the Space ISAC’s newest founding member. Parsons joins Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: KTOS), Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH), MITRE, SES, and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) as a founding member. David Weissmiller, Director of Space Strategy and Development at Parsons, will serve on the Space ISAC board of directors.
The Space ISAC is the only space dedicated ISAC and is made possible through the investment by its board and founding members. Parsons has a more than 70-year history in space operations, space domain awareness and launch integration. The company’s experience began in 1948 with launch facility infrastructure, and today is the sole contractor integrating small satellite payloads for the U.S. Air Force under the Launch Manifest Systems Integration program.
The initial founders of Space ISAC serve as board members. Each board member has a role in fulfilling the mission of the ISAC: to facilitate collaboration across the global space industry to enhance our ability to prepare for and respond to vulnerabilities, incidents, and threats; to disseminate timely and actionable information among member firms; and to serve as the primary communications channel for the sector with respect to this information.
Erin Miller, Vice President of Operations for the Space ISAC at the National Cybersecurity Center, said, “As one of the Space ISAC founding board members, Parsons will contribute their extensive knowledge of space operations support programs and technologies to enhance the growing base of expertise within the Space ISAC. We are thrilled to have Parsons onboard.”
Parsons Corporation has a long history of charting new territory in the space domain. The company will enhance the Space ISAC board and membership by contributing its expertise in and legacy of technical experience in launch infrastructure and operations, space cyber protection, domain awareness, space situational awareness, and small satellite and CubeSat integration.
David Weissmiller, Director of Space Strategy and Development at Parsons and Space ISAC Board Member, said, “Parsons is very happy to be participating as a founding member of the Space ISAC. As a partner with the Space ISAC and our fellow industry partners we look forward to elevating awareness on the importance on the space domain. This high-impact effort brings much needed security and protection support to the space enterprise. I have spent much of my adult life committed to protecting and securing our national freedoms in the space and cyber domains. This is a great honor to participate with such great people and organizations represented here.”
ISAC Explainer
ISACs are sector-specific, member-driven organizations stood up by the commercial sector with support from the federal government to collect, analyze, and disseminate cyber and physical security threats and risk mitigation information to critical infrastructure owners, operators, and members to increase resiliency.
Need for Space ISAC
The need for a Space ISAC was conceived by the Science & Technology Partnership Forum in 2017 in response to recognized information sharing gaps within the cybersecurity and space community. The Forum’s goal was to enhance the community’s ability to prepare for and respond to vulnerabilities, incidents, and threats; disseminate timely information; and serve as the primary communications channel for the sector with respect to this information. The
Forum shared this vision at the 34th Space Symposium in April 2018.
The formation of the Space ISAC supports the White House’s National Cyber Strategy, published in September 2018, which states that “the Administration will enhance efforts to protect our space assets and support infrastructure from
evolving cyber threats,” while working “with industry and international partners to strengthen the cyber resilience of existing and future space systems.”
The Space ISAC was then announced in April 2019 during a classified session at the 35th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, CO. To facilitate the Space ISAC’s origination and organization as the founding member, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. coordinated the organizational planning and federal government charter, funded the ISAC startup costs, and developed the operational plan for the Space ISAC.
NCC is a Colorado Springs-based member-driven national community of cyber influencers from government, academia, industry, and military conceived in 2016 and serves as the operational arm of the Space ISAC. Locating the Space ISAC at the NCC means Space ISAC members will have access to Colorado’s space and cybersecurity ecosystems within the commercial and defense sectors and to the talents of the premier higher education institutions developing cybersecurity engineers.
Together, NCC and the Space ISAC serve cyber influencers from the commercial sector, academia, government, and military and empower people to secure commercial, international, and military space communications from attacks on our global space assets. They are jointly building a research and development capability, cybersecurity training curriculum, and an analysis portal. With the addition of the Space ISAC, NCC is offering training on secure GPS and hosts a dialogue on the importance of international and commercial satellites on military communication at the annual Cyber Symposium.
About Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc.
Kratos develops and fields transformative, affordable technology, platforms and systems for United States National Security related customers, allies and commercial enterprises. Kratos is changing the way breakthrough technology for these industries are rapidly brought to market through proven commercial and venture capital backed approaches, including proactive research and streamlined development processes. Kratos specializes in unmanned systems, satellite communications, cyber security/warfare, microwave electronics, missile defense, hypersonic systems, training, and combat systems. For more information go to www.KratosDefense.com.
About Booz Allen Hamilton
For more than 100 years, military, government, and business leaders have turned to Booz Allen Hamilton to solve their most complex problems. As a consulting firm with experts in analytics, digital, engineering, and cyber, we help organizations transform. We are a key partner on some of the most innovative programs for governments worldwide and trusted by their most sensitive agencies. We work shoulder to shoulder with clients, using a mission-first approach to choose the right strategy and technology to help them realize their vision. With global headquarters in McLean, Virginia and more than 80 offices worldwide, our firm employs more than 26,100 people and had revenue of $6.7 billion for the 12 months ending March 31, 2019. To learn more, visit www.BoozAllen.com. (NYSE: BAH)
About MITRE
MITRE’s mission-driven teams are dedicated to solving problems for a safer world. Through public-private partnerships and our federally funded R&D centers, we work across government to tackle challenges to the safety, stability, and well-being of our nation. For more information about MITRE, please visit www.MITRE.org.
About SES
SES is the world’s leading satellite operator with over 70 satellites in two different orbits, Geostationary Orbit (GEO) and Medium Earth Orbit (MEO). It provides a diverse range of customers with global video distribution and data connectivity services through two business units: SES Video and SES Networks. SES Video reaches over 355 million TV homes, through Direct-to- Home (DTH) platforms and cable, terrestrial, and IPTV networks globally. SES Video delivers a full suite of innovative end-to-end value-added services for both linear and digital distribution, and includes the ASTRA satellite system, which has the largest DTH television reach in Europe. SES Networks provides global managed data services, connecting people in a variety of sectors including telecommunications, maritime, aeronautical, and energy, as well as governments and institutions across the world. The SES Networks portfolio includes GovSat, a 50/50 public-private partnership between SES and the Luxembourg government, and O3b, the only non-geostationary system delivering fibre-like broadband services today. Further information is available at: www.ses.com.
About Lockheed Martin
Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 105,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. For more information, visit www.lockheedmartin.com/cyber.
About Parsons
Parsons (NYSE: PSN) is a leading disruptive technology provider for the future of global defense, intelligence, and critical infrastructure, with capabilities across cybersecurity, missile defense, space, connected infrastructure, and smart cities. Please visit parsons.com, and follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook to learn how we’re making an impact.
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