Northrop, UMBC Mark One Year of Cyber Startup Scholarships; Mike Papay Comments
Northrop Grumman and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County are marking the one-year anniversary of a partnership to launch startup cybersecurity solutions providers, the company announced Thursday.
UMBC says the Cync program aims to commercialize technology for cyber protection by awarding 18-month scholarships to participating startup firms.
Northrop starts working with companies in the early development stages as many technologies are in different phases, said Mike Papay, vice president of cyber initiatives for the information systems sector.
Many companies initially entered the program with no revenue or customers, according to Chris Valentino, director of contract research and development at Northrop’s cyber intelligence division.
Valentino said every company now has a customer and revenue and some are hiring and expanding.
Participating companies provide educational and internship opportunities for students, said UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski.
Booz Allen Hamilton Executive VP Mark Gerencser supports cybersecurity degree and certificate programs at UMD’s University College campus (click over to ExecutiveBiz for more on his and the company’s work with UMUC).
Five companies participate in the Cync program and now more than 100 startups have expressed interest in the program, according to the company.
The partnership aims to bring cyber solutions to customers in the intelligence community and the departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Justice.
Startup firms focus their work on technologies involving situational awareness, visualization, sensors, processing, workflow management, modeling and simulation.
AccelerEyes, Five Directions, KoolSpan, Oculis Labs and Rogue Networks currently participate in Cync.
Of the five participants, RogueNetworks was the first to receive a Fast Track award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in 2011, followed by Five Directions in 2012.
Oculis Labs recently signed a strategic licensing agreement with NJVC to resell its data privacy software solutions for protecting mobile and desktop computers from visual eavesdroppers.
A European telecommunications operator will commercialize KoolSpan’s trust suite of products including TrustCall.
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