The Defense Information Systems Agency has assumed responsibility for the management and operations of a cyber defense tool previously managed by the National Security Agency.
SharkSeer is a system of government, commercial and open-source systems designed to detect and block malicious network traffic through the use of automated and blocking mechanisms, DISA said Monday.
In 2015, NSA developed the SharkSeer program as an adaptive platform to rapidly integrate new technologies. The system serves as a boundary cyber defense tool to help ensure the security of the Department of Defense Information Network and generates unique threat data content to enable other defensive platforms to mitigate threats.
NSA officially handed over the program to DISA in late June and celebrated the final transition on July 20 in Annapolis Junction, Maryland.
“Geographically deploying the SHARKSEER capability at the 10 DISA-managed internet access points to monitor traffic provides an unprecedented level of visibility to the warfighter supporting the DOD cyber network defense incident response mission,” said Alexis Grayson, SharkSeer program manager at DISA.
Grayson said DISA will further develop the systems by transitioning to a zero-trust framework, adding multifactor authentication capability and using more cloud-based security tools.
Parsons was involved in the SharkSeer program’s original design and implementation. In 2020, the company received a task order to further improve the program with the development of new defensive cyber capabilities.
