Parsons opened its new, state-of-the-art Cyber Solutions Center on March 13. Attendees included Parsons’ Chairman and CEO Chuck Harrington and other Parsons executives, as well as Congressman Adam Schiff.
Located in the corporation’s Centreville, Virginia, office, this unique facility enables Parsons to emulate customer architectures, security vulnerabilities, and risk posture and provide testing and demonstrations to enhance and protect the security of customer operating environments. The center is a key component of the company’s Cyber Critical Infrastructure Protection Initiative.
“Since acquiring Sparta Inc., in 2011 and Secure Mission Solutions in 2014, Parsons has greatly enhanced its cybersecurity capabilities, and we’re excited to add the Cyber Solutions Center as an innovative dimension with the potential to enable better and more effective customer decisions about how to manage cyber risks,” said Chuck Harrington, Parsons’ Chairman and CEO.
Congressman Adam Schiff added, “Parsons’ new Cyber Solutions Center will provide an important resource for government and industry leaders whose job is to safeguard our nation’s data and critical infrastructure against a sophisticated cadre of cyber enemies. If we are to win this new cyber war, it is imperative that those of us in the federal government work closely with private industry to identify our vulnerabilities, share information, and develop the best possible defenses.”
Parsons’ hands-on laboratory provides the ability to demonstrate and analyze the operational technology networks, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems and industrial control systems (ICS) that control all critical infrastructure, building systems, manufacturing systems, medical treatment facilities, water and wastewater, and more. The center enables the development of integrated, actionable solutions tailored to customer-specific risk environments. Using advanced network simulation provided by partner SCALABLE Network Technologies, the new Parsons center can replicate SCADA/ICS networks with connectivity to equipment or control systems and fully evaluate cyber effects on them.
“Parsons has a unique perspective on the cybersecurity challenges faced by both government and commercial organizations today. We have been designing, building, and sustaining elements of critical infrastructure for more than 70 years,” stated Phil Lacombe, Parsons’ vice president and information systems and security sector manager. “Our position as a trusted advisor to our customers, coupled with our deep cybersecurity and network operations expertise, provides a technology agnostic view of the cybersecurity requirements and solutions needed by our customers. Our goal is to enable our customers to make better investment decisions — based on demonstrated performance.”
Driven by the demand for cybersecurity of the increasingly complex systems that control critical infrastructure, the center offers customers a means to visualize an attack without threatening actual operations. Its services have broad applications for federal and commercial customers managing critical infrastructure in areas such as energy transmission, power production, and wastewater sanitization.
