Northrop Grumman Welcomes University of Southern California Into Its Cybersecurity Research Consortium

FALLS CHURCH, Va., May 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) has invited one of the nation's top cybersecurity research institutions – the University of Southern California (USC) – to join its Cybersecurity Research Consortium. USC's leadership in big data, computer science and informatics will expand the consortium's breadth of research to further advance solutions to counter the newest and most pressing cyber threats to our economy and national security.

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USC joins three more of the nation's leading cybersecurity research universities– Carnegie Mellon University, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Purdue University – as part of the Northrop Grumman Cybersecurity Research Consortium.

"In today's cyber environment, one of the biggest challenges our customers face is sifting through the enormous amounts of data flowing over their network, understanding its relevance and trustworthiness, and determining how it will affect their mission," said Mike Papay, vice president and chief information security officer, Northrop Grumman. "When paired with Northrop Grumman's deep domain knowledge and understanding of the global threat, USC's long-term research in big data and analytics will help this industry/academic partnership transition inventive solutions to meet critical customer needs."

"We are honored to partner with Northrop Grumman and the other three academic institutions in the consortium," said Yannis C. Yortsos, dean of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. "Finding solutions in this very important area, which is also one of the grand challenges of engineering, will benefit both the public and the private sectors. Cybersecurity challenges are intertwined with big data issues. Our existing strengths in both these areas and in analytics provide a solid base upon which we augment the consortium's innovative work and its mission."

The Northrop Grumman Cybersecurity Research Consortium is a unique industry/academia partnership that set out in December 2009 to advance research, facilitate collaboration among the nation's top scientists and accelerate solutions to counter the fast-changing threats from cyberspace. Today's announcement marks the first additional school to join the consortium since its founding.

The USC Viterbi School of Engineering will research issues surrounding security and trust in big data storage and processing, especially when managed by highly distributed systems. The school will draw upon its expertise in trusted systems and standards, verifiable protection and high-assurance security that protect and defend against adversarial attacks and software subversion. USC Viterbi will leverage its Information Sciences Institute (ISI), a world leader in the research and development of advanced information processing and computer and communications technology. The Viterbi School is consistently ranked among the top graduate programs in the world, with more than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students and 177 faculty.

"Our team has in-depth knowledge of not only the scientific foundations of truly trustworthy high-assurance platforms, but also vast experience with practical deployment of focused government environments," said Roger Schell, senior computer scientist, USC ISI. "We will expand and enhance these prior results into much broader and more important areas, such as securing big data for disparate domains in the cloud."

The consortium will continue to take on some of the world's leading cyber problems including attribution in cyberspace, supply chain risk and securing critical infrastructure networks. Members of the consortium coordinate research projects, share information and best practices, develop curricula, write joint case studies and other publications, and provide numerous learning opportunities and applications for students and the defense community overall.

Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in unmanned systems, cyber, C4ISR, and logistics and modernization to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.

SOURCE Northrop Grumman Corporation