Defense employees to get anti-spyware software
A $6.9 million contract will safeguard 4 million computers in both offices and homes with security software.
Computers used by Defense Department employees will be upgraded with software to fight spyware, under a recently awarded $6.9 million contract.
The contract, awarded to Science Applications International Corp. in San Diego, includes the installation of the software on 4 million computers used by Defense employees, including home computers of employees who work from home.
Computer Associates International Inc. in Islandia, N.Y., is partnering with SAIC to provide the software, known as eTrust PestPatrol Anti-Spyware. The software is designed to block spyware downloaded from the Internet or received maliciously through e-mail attachments.
The contract, awarded by the Defense Information Systems Agency under its I-ASSURE plan, starts in August with a 120-day pilot installation and training program at a limited number of Defense locations - including the Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard.
Computer Associates will conduct the training, which will include about six hours of instruction and teach system administrators to install and maintain the PestPatrol product.
A Pentagon steering group recently identified spyware as a major concern. DISA believes that a centrally managed system will help Defense agencies keep that software out of their systems.
Sioux Fleming, director of product management for Computer Associates' eTrust Security Product, said Defense employees who work from home and connect to office servers would need this type of software to guard against malicious attacks.
"Every Department of Defense computer will have this," Fleming said. "[The software] will be silently installed. People will not see this on their computers."
The contract also provides Defense agencies 24 hour, 7-day a week online support for guarding against online compute virus threats.