Orlando Sentinel

Harris Corp. trains law officers in cyber security

- By Marco Santana

Florida law enforcemen­t officials received hands-on training from Harris Corporatio­n’s cyber security experts during a free workshop held in South Florida.

The Melbourne-based aerospace and defense contractor hosted more than 50 people at a workshop that took a look at some of the tools cyber criminals have at their disposal.

They also learned how to protect their networks.

“Cybersecur­ity is a complex industry,” said Greg Coleman, marketing intelligen­ce manager for Harris Communicat­ions Systems, in a release. “Harris is pleased to offer the best of the best experts in the industry to help our law enforcemen­t partners take action against this everyday threat.”

Harris, which employs 6,000 in Central Florida, has a sprawling campus in Melbourne. It specialize­s in communicat­ions technology, as well as technology embedded in satellites. Tuesday positions it to help other businesses stave off cyber attacks.

Siemens has partnered with small Maryland-based security firm Tenable Inc. to help utilities, oil and gas companies to prepare their critical infrastruc­ture for cyberattac­ks.

“Cyberattac­ks against the … utilities sector are on the rise and growing more sophistica­ted and aggressive by the day,” said Leo Simonovich, vice president and global head of Siemens’ Industrial Cyber and Digital Security division.

The two firms will combine services to help companies assess resources to determine where they may be vulnerable. An October survey found that cyber attacks on utility infrastruc­ture is one of the biggest threats the energy industry faces.

The cybersecur­ity group for Siemens, which employs more than 5,000 in Central Florida, falls under its Power Generation Services Division, which has its hub in Orlando.

Tenable CEO Amit Yoran said the need to understand how exposed a company is to cyberattac­ks has become increasing­ly important to critical infrastruc­ture companies. “We have seen the rise of cloud, mobile and ‘Internet of Things’ … which have made the critical systems vulnerable to increasing­ly aggressive adversarie­s and attacks,” he said.

An Orlando simulation firm is jumping into augmented reality after landing a research and developmen­t contract with a Melbourneb­ased company.

Serious Simulation­s, which until now had focused on immersive military training systems, will produce a series of prototypes for wireless augmented reality headsets for Aeronyde Corporatio­n.

Aeronyde specialize­s in fixed-wing drones that can carry tools that help in thermal imaging and mapping.

“This will be a terrific leap forward in visualizat­ion of a variety of data,” said Christophe­r Chambers, CEO and founder of Serious Simulation­s.

In a release, Serious Simulation­s’ officials say the first prototype will be ready by the end of the year. The value of the contract was not disclosed.

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