Promia Awarded Additional $2 M for SPAWAR Security R&D

Promia Incorporated, a developer of Internet Security products, announced that it has been awarded an additional $2,000,000 on its current Research and Development contract with the U.S. Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) for an Intelligent Internet Security System. The contract was awarded under the U.S. Department of Defense Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and encompasses a Phase Two Research and Development project. Additional funding was allocated to incorporate several key advanced features including responsive action and integrated global views of land and ship-based Naval facilities.

Ms. Linda Whittington, SPAWAR SBIR Program Manager, said, "I'm very pleased to see the success and expansion of this Navy SBIR effort which contributes to the security of our national defense Internet resources. This project is a showcase example of how the SBIR Program can build strong partnerships between the Navy and small business."

Ms. Janet Martha, vice president and Congressional Liaison, added, "We are also keeping this project in concert with the common criteria specification and the objectives and goals of the congressional cyber security task force.

The security system under development by Promia for the U.S Navy uses intelligent software that monitors the Internet as attacks occur, detects patterns of intrusion, signals attacks as they start and allows Naval network management personnel the ability to take proactive action against attacks. "Our approach uses open-standard high-speed CORBA secure messaging, together with Neural Networks and Fuzzy Logic, to provide a highly efficient, intelligent system that cannot easily be fooled", explained William Reynolds, CTO at Promia. "The software is designed to be dynamic, and changes itself based on changes in the behavior of the humans and machines operating on the network," he added.

In large-scale Internet networks, such as used by the U.S. Navy, the amount of Internet events generated are too large for network security personnel to analyze in reasonable time frames. The Internet security system under development by Promia uses intelligent correlation of events to automate this process and thereby is able to protect Internet networks. Included in the Internet system under development is a Cyber Warfare Laboratory wherein Internet intrusion attacks can be simulated and new attacks patterns can be identified. It also includes a powerful set of forensic and statistical tools to aid in attack analysis. The project is scheduled to deliver an initial, limited version in the third quarter of 2001, with the fully completed system by June 2002.

About Promia Incorporated

Promia Incorporated is a leader in development of advanced Internet technologies for real-world business solutions including Internet security, Electronic Commerce and highly secured Internet solutions. Promia has strategic alliances with a growing number of financial, health care and government institutions for advanced Internet security solutions. Promia has many years experience in business-to-business and business-to-consumer Internet Web application development for many industries and applications. Promia is headquartered in San Francisco, CA and has offices in Princeton, NJ and Davis, California.

For more information about Promia, please call 415-536-1600, fax to 415-536-1616, or visit Promia's Web site at www.promia.com.