Information Security News: GSA preps security solutions

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2002/0520/web-itaa-05-23-02.asp

By Diane Frank 
May 23, 2002

Agencies and vendors should expect to see some big opportunities for
increasing government security as the General Services Administration
readies several new solutions and solicitations this year.

In March, GSA's Federal Computer Incident Response Center (FedCIRC)  
awarded its patch authentication and dissemination capability, a free
service to provide agencies with a way to get only the security
patches they need for the software on their networks.

The service, run by Science Applications International Corp. and
subcontractor Vigilinx Inc., will be at initial operating capability
and ready for some agencies to use June 20, said Sallie McDonald,
GSA's assistant commissioner for information assurance and critical
infrastructure protection. McDonald was speaking May 22 at the
E-Security and Homeland Defense conference in New York City, an event
sponsored by the Information Technology Association of America and
Prudential Securities.

In July, FedCIRC officials expect to release a request for proposals
on a security knowledge management portal, another service to be
offered to agencies, McDonald said. The portal will enable agencies to
find out about general security issues, such as new vulnerabilities,
threats and fixes. It also will provide a secure site for chat rooms
and other collaboration tools, she said.

FedCIRC also is looking at creating a security toolkit, giving
agencies central access to all of the security tools developed and
already paid for by government and quasi-government organizations,
such as Mitretek Systems Inc. and the Carnegie Mellon University's
Software Engineering Institute.

The center plans to issue an RFP this summer for a contractor to
identify the tools, assemble them into a suite of services and market
them to agencies, McDonald said.



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