Accenture, the big information technology consulting firm based in Ireland, is already entrenched in San Diego’s military community.
As the federal government calls for more help with the vexing problem of cybersecurity, Accenture is bidding for more work.
An Accenture spokeswoman says the company is pursuing a major cyber defense contract in San Diego. Company representatives declined to name the customer, saying it is “in the intelligence space.”
The thing Accenture would like to deliver is a “dynamic cybersecurity” system. The computer system would have the ability to automatically sense danger in the network and respond, says Bud Horton, an Accenture executive who leads Accenture’s cybersecurity initiatives.
In the world of cyberwar, the rules are different.
“You’re fighting in nanoseconds. You’re not fighting in hours,” said Horton.
The contract proposal occurs against a backdrop where hackers continually seek access to U.S. government computer networks, and to networks controlling vital pieces of the United States’ infrastructure, such as utilities. The hackers are able to operate anonymously or disguise themselves easily, federal officials say. They can sabotage crucial data or clog a network with traffic.
Cyberwar has already been part of recent major military conflicts, including those among former states of the Soviet Union in 2007 and 2008.
“The opening rounds of the next war will likely be in cyberspace,” said Adm. Gary Roughead, who as chief of naval operations is the Navy’s top officer. Roughead’s comments were published in an overview of the Navy’s San Diego-based information technology command, SPAWAR, published in the fall.
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