The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program has awarded $1.96 million to a pair of businesses to aid emergency communication network risk management assessments.
Orem, Utah-based Achilles Heel Technologies and SecureLogix, of San Antonio, Texas, were selected to participate in Phase II of the program based on demonstration of feasibility in Phase I for Network Modeling for Risk Assessment technology solutions.
During Phase II, each company is slated to continue its research and development efforts. Achilles Heel Technologies would further develop a software tool suite for holistic cyber risk management of Next-Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) systems. SecureLogix would continue developing a modeling tool aiding 9-1-1 decision makers in planning mitigations for Telephony Denial of Service (TDoS) attacks and support awareness and education demonstrations.
“There should never be any doubt that if you don’t identify risks to your security operations, a bad actor will do it for you,” William N. Bryan, DHS senior official Performing the Duties of the Under Secretary for Science and Technology, said. “Through the DHS SBIR Program, we are able to develop innovative new tools that will help secure Next Generation 9-1-1 communication networks.”
Ann Cox, DHS S&T SBIR topic manager, said supporting improvements to NG9-1-1 is one of the best uses of taxpayer dollars. It benefits the entire homeland security enterprise.
“Legacy 9-1-1 systems were not connected to the internet, and in some ways were less vulnerable than NG9-1-1,” she said. “Now, many new data types are accepted by NG9-1-1 centers, such as text, video, images, and even information directly from an automobile in the event of an accident. This modeling effort allows risk assessment for NG9-1-1 when there is not an emergency occurring, to allow for planning and training as needed.”