ROME — Rome–based Assured Information Security (AIS) is working on a new U.S. Air Force contract and has also opened a new office in Denver, Colorado. AIS is a growing cybersecurity firm that is headquartered at 153 Brooks Road in the Griffiss Business & Technology Park in Rome. The firm also has offices in Massachusetts, […]
ROME — Rome–based Assured Information Security (AIS) is working on a new U.S. Air Force contract and has also opened a new office in Denver, Colorado.
AIS is a growing cybersecurity firm that is headquartered at 153 Brooks Road in the Griffiss Business & Technology Park in Rome. The firm also has offices in Massachusetts, Maryland, Ohio, Colorado, and Oregon.
The Air Force has awarded AIS a $48.4 million contract for “full spectrum” cyber capabilities. Under the terms of the pact, AIS will provide the Air Force with “tools and technologies to aid in cyber warfare,” per a March 7 news release from the company.
This contract provides for research, development, and transition of cyber technologies to enable rapid cyber operations and will result in the “accelerated delivery” of cyber products.
When asked what is meant by the phrase “full spectrum,” Salvatore Paladino, program manager at AIS for the agile cyber solutions (ACS) group, tells CNYBJ that he had “two ways to characterize that.”
The ACS group handles both research and developing and transitioning capabilities, he noted.
“We have folks that on the same day … [are] doing basic research and we have might folks that are enhancing a fielded capability, so that’s one way to define the full spectrum of cyber capabilities,” says Paladino, who spoke with CNYBJ on April 19.
The second way to characterize “full spectrum,” he noted, is that AIS is developing capabilities for defensive cyber operations and capabilities for offensive cyber operations.
“You could say the collection of capabilities that we’re developing are full spectrum, meaning that we’re developing defensive and offensive solutions,” says Paladino.
In the company’s news release, Paladino called the contract “an exciting opportunity for AIS.”
“This work will have a measurable and powerful impact on cyber mission assurance by assisting the Air Force in maintaining cyber superiority,” he said.
In the interview, Paladino went on to say that a tool or technology for the Air Force could be an entire platform or could be a framework that allows for integration of several technologies.
“It could be a single application, or it could be a method or algorithm that improves an existing capability. That’s where the research comes in,” he says.
AIS will work on the contract through March 2024. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), also known as Rome Lab, is the contracting authority for the award.
“They’re managing the contract. They’re putting it in place, and on that contract … we may be developing technologies for other organizations, both Air Force and other entities across the [U.S.] Department of Defense,” Paladino explains.
“There is no doubt the Air Force made the right choice by selecting AIS for this important work in cybersecurity, which will enhance both our national defense and the regional economy,” U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) contended in the AIS release. “Together, the local workforces at AIS and Rome Lab will blend their expertise to deliver real results in developing our nation’s cybersecurity infrastructure.”
Founded in 2001, AIS is a cyber and information security company that provides services for the federal government and the intelligence community.
AIS currently has more than 300 employees, including about 175 who work in Rome. It also operates nine facilities across the U.S.
New office
AIS on March 26 held an open house and ribbon cutting at its new office in Denver.
The company previously had a presence in Greenwood Village, Colorado, and decided to expand and move to a location in the Denver Technology Center.
“There are currently several hundred thousand unfilled cybersecurity positions in the United States,” Steve Flint, COO at AIS, said in the release. “Talented people have their pick of jobs and locations, but we believe our new office’s amenities — in addition to the location, office culture, and outstanding benefits — will allow us to fill the office quickly.”
This is the fourth office AIS has opened in the past two years, the firm said.
In the past six years, AIS said it has doubled its workforce, more than quadrupled its revenue, acquired three companies, and expanded to nine locations. That has led to the new offices.
The three companies AIS has acquired include GreyCastle Security, LLC, a Troy, New York–based cybersecurity firm with an additional office in Rochester. That deal closed in September 2016.
It also acquired Ross Technologies, Inc. (RTGX) of Maryland in a deal that closed Aug. 1, 2016. RTGX is a Columbia, Maryland–based company that provides cybersecurity services for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and intelligence community.
AIS in 2015 acquired Information Security Solutions (ISS), a technology company based in the Washington, D.C. area.