A a first-of-its-kind General Services Administration (GSA) contract award announced today will provide government agencies continuous detection and fingerprinting of devices – from phones to drones – that are open pathways for attackers into critical government networks.
The GSA contract vehicle allows Pwnie Express, a company that provides threat detection of the billions of devices in and around the workplace, to provide its Pwn Pulse solution and subsequent partnership with gvTechSolutions to protect US government facilities from security threats presented by unrecognized and currently undetectable devices.
“Every day, tens of thousands of undetected and often unauthorized devices move through government worksites and military bases and they can run the gamut from an employee’s smart phone, a potentially malicious planted device, or even a wifi-enabled drone,” Pwnie Express CEO Paul Paget, told Homeland Security Today.
“Sure, strict policies are in place to ‘regulate’ BYOD because security pros know these devices are simply gateways for threats to get inside the network,” Paget said, but emphasized that “it is becoming increasingly clear that policies cannot be enforced when devices cannot even be detected in the first place.”
Continuing, Paget said, “For government agencies, with hundreds of thousands of people flowing through sites each day, the problem is something they are trying to address, and quickly. While Pwnie Express has a long history working with all levels of government with our penetration testing and vulnerability assessment solutions, it is the introduction of our Pwn Pulse platform for detecting the devices on or around government networks that has created the highest level of interest."
“Since our founding in 1997 to focus on emerging security threats, we have been in front of most threats andtheir defenses,” said Robert Deitz, chief executive officer, gvTechSolutions. “Today’s market is saturated with overlay and multi-purpose tools targeted at the same issue. However every few years a market leader emerges to address what no one else has – or how to do it better. Pwnie Express reminds me of a few security innovators over the last two decades that have actually defined the solution. The Internet of Evil Things is real and not a single customer we have has a handle on this today.”
In a statement about the GSA contract, Pwnie Express said, “US government workplaces are under constant attack as malicious actors increasingly target the devices in and around offices – from large federal buildings in Washington, DC, to remote bases throughout the world – to infiltrate critical agency networks … these devices are often brought into the workplace by employees who might not know they are providing an open pathway into critical government infrastructure.”
Indeed, a recent industry survey of 1,000 federal government employees revealed half of respondents use their personal devices at work to access email, while 49 percent use them to download work documents despite stringent workplace restrictions on personal device use.
GSA expects Pwnie Express to provide full visibility into all of the devices in and around federal government workplaces.
“The assessment and analysis of any bring your own device (BYOD) or rogue device gives government agencies the full visibility needed to prioritize security response, reduce alert fatigue, and provide situational intelligence to implement real-time remediation,” the company said.
For more information about GSA pricing for Pwn Pulse visit here.
