Feds seek new tools to fight cyber attacks

It's no secret that federal networks are wide open to attack from outsiders around the world and even close to home. The federal government knows that well and is looking for advanced research concepts to better secure their networks.

In a notice published Monday in the Federal Register, the National Coordination Office for Networking Information Research and Development announced it is seeking help from private vendors to protect federal systems against the growing number of cyber attacks.

"We determined that the best way the government could move forward is not to focus on the incremental developments that need to take place, but to be the catalyst to look at more far-reaching, revolutionary concepts that if implemented, could leap [us] ahead of a lot of the current issues and incremental fixes," said Tomas Vagoun, technical coordinator for the office's cybersecurity and information assurance, an interagency working group at NITRD, which supports research agencies.

It's also a clear sign that the federal government is serious about dealing with the growing and sophisticated threats against federal websites.

"The ultimate goal is to stop attacks before they happen or before they do too much damage. That's high bandwidth and real time, hopefully with an automated response mechanism," said Greg Garcia, president of the consulting firm Garcia Strategies and former assistant secretary for cybersecurity and communications at the Homeland Security Department. "

For more on the new federal attack strategy:
- check out this nextgov.com article