DHS cyber tech hits the enterprise market

DHS has licensed its third software through the TTP program.

The commercial cybersecurity industry has a bold new player: the Department of Homeland Security.

As part of its Transition to Practice program — an initiative which licenses DHS-designed software for commercial distribution — the department’s Science and Technology division has released its Network Mapping System (NeMS) on the enterprise market.

“The brilliant minds of the nation’s network of national laboratories are coming up with incredible technologies and solutions,” DHS Under Secretary for Science and Technology Reginald Brothers said. “Transitioning those ideas into the commercial market where they can be put to practical use is a primary objective for S&T.”

TTP was launched in 2012 as part of a broad effort to enhance the country’s cybersecurity capabilities on a national scale. In addition to marketing software to enterprise consumers, the program works to foster an environment of collaboration between the cyber research community, consumers, investors, IT companies and end users. These types of institutional relationships, according to the DHS, are critical for showcasing technologies, and facilitating pilot and communalization opportunities.

“TTP’s goal is to find technologies with the potential to strengthen our nation’s cybersecurity posture and assist those technologies in making the difficult journey from the research lab to the commercial marketplace,” said Mike Pozmantier, TTP program manager. “And as long as these innovative technologies are transitioned to a commercial or government end-user we’re making a positive impact on the cyber landscape.”

NeMS, a network analysis tool that allows users to view all connected assets that require protection, will be licensed to Cambridge Global Advisors, a strategic advisory services firm based in Virginia.

Only eight cyber technologies are selected annually to be incorporated into TTP’s 36-month program, which distributes candidates among developers across the country with the ultimate goal of advancing them into commercially viable products. DHS has accumulated 24 technologies over the past three years, three of which — Hyperion, Quantum Secured Communication, and now NeMS — have successfully leapt into the market.

“With the success of the NeMs technology transition, S&T hopes commercial technology partners and end-users will take notice of other technologies, not only in the TTP program, but in the entire government research and development community, as solutions to complex problems,” Pozmantier said.