Cazenovia cybersecurity firm certified as service-disabled veteran-owned business

A Cazenovia–based cybersecurity firm was recently certified as a service-disabled veteran-owned business (SDVOB), New York State Office of General Services (OGS) Commissioner Jeanette Moy announced.

The New York OGS Division of Service-Disabled Veterans’ Business Development (DSDVBD) issued the certification to Nova Cyber Systems, LLC, which specializes in cybersecurity and database management. The business is located at 3339 West Lake Road.

Nova Cyber Systems’ founder, Mark R. Costa, Ph.D., is a U.S. Army veteran with more than 15 years’ experience in research, information-systems design, and data analytics, according to the company’s website. The firm says its core competencies are data architecture and modeling, graph databases, (graph) analytics, and security-tool integrations.

Nova Cyber Systems was among 14 newly certified businesses across the state announced by the OGS on March 7. The DSDVBD was created by New York State government in May 2014 through enactment of the Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Business Act. The state had 1,078 certified businesses, as of March 7.

For a business to receive certification, one or more service-disabled veterans — with a service-connected disability rating of 10 percent or more from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (or from the New York State Division of Veterans’ Affairs for National Guard veterans) — must own at least 51 percent of the company. Other criteria include: the business must be independently owned and operated and have a significant business presence in New York, it must have conducted business for at least one year prior to the application date, and it must qualify as a small business under the New York State program. Several more requirements also need to be met.