Fort Hood DOIM dons security award

The Army’s Directorate of Information Management (DOIM) at Fort Hood, Texas, has received an industry award for computer security work done on the service’s information technology infrastructure there.

The Aberdeen Group, a firm that provides research and advice to companies, bestowed the Fort Hood DOIM and nine other public and private organizations with its 2005 Best Security Practices award. The honor covers work related to network infrastructure; identity and access; host, data, application and information protection; threat and vulnerability and change management; and security policy, procedure, audit and risk management reporting.

“Like all organizations today, the information infrastructure supporting our troops for the Army at Fort Hood is under constant attack from multiple fronts and from enemies using different types of weapons. The DOIM’s Information Assurance team worked closely with strategic vendor partners, such as Intrusion, Inc., to implement the necessary countermeasures required to safeguard our IT systems and support the Army’s mission to win the global war on terror,” said Dennis Sheppard, director of the Fort Hood DOIM, in a July 12 statement issued by Intrusion.

This spring, the Aberdeen Group called Intrusion asking it for customers who successfully managed and deployed information assurance policies and projects. The company recommended the Fort Hood DOIM, said Eric Gore, the company’s vice president.

Intrusion deployed its network and spyware defense products there during the past year. The company responded to information assurance requirements from the Fort Hood DOIM, Gore said.

Army officials admitted at the Army IT Conference last month in Las Vegas that Fort Hood, the service’s largest base in the world, has a huge information security problem. They said the Army spent millions of dollars during the past year to remediate networks there.

The award comes on Intrusion’s announcement in May it received a $1 million contract to deploy its SecureNet Pro Network Intrusion Prevention and Detection System at Fort Hood. The company received an $800,000 Army contract to implement its SecureNet and SpySnare products there.

Earlier this year, Intrusion announced it completed a year-long IT security project with the DOIM at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., the home of the Army’s Network Enterprise Technology Command, which operates, manages and protects the service’s systems. The company deployed SecureNet Pro and a unique security process management system.

The other awardees were not immediately available.