MCLEAN, Va., Sept. 9, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) was presented with the Information Security Executive™ (ISE™) Southeast Project of the Year Award last month for the Northrop Grumman OneBadge program. Sponsored by Tech Exec Networks (TEN), the award recognizes projects for their outstanding achievements in risk management, data asset protection, compliance, privacy and network security.
The Northrop Grumman OneBadge program was selected as the winner in the project category that included nominees from the U.S. Southeast region including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
TEN cited the project for, "successfully demonstrating a commercial enterprise's ability to turn the merits of a federal directive into a successful internal deployment. Its far-reaching implications are paving the way for secure digital collaboration between government and industry at a time when cyber security is paramount to the protection of the U.S. economy, and to the security and well being of the U.S. and its citizens."
"Nearly every business sector that operates over the Internet is impacted by the growing cyber threat," said Tim McKnight, vice president and chief information security officer for Northrop Grumman. "As a Tier 1 integrator, Northrop Grumman must ensure secure collaboration between our government and commercial customers and partners to safeguard sensitive information. Through this unprecedented deployment, we have proven that a strong identity solution can be implemented in a practical manner at any large organization concerned with protecting their information assets."
The Northrop Grumman OneBadge project team developed, implemented and deployed smart card technology across the company to enhance protection from unauthorized access to company facilities, networks and data.
Considered the largest deployment of smart card credentials, the company rebadged more than 120,000 personnel, integrated single-standard physical access technology into approximately 350 facilities, and eliminated the need for more than 48,000 remote access tokens, all within 18 months. In addition to increasing authentication requirements and enhancing secure information exchange over the internet, OneBadge reduces access control technology costs and proves scalability across a large enterprise.
"The technologies used and the lessons learned by the OneBadge project team are paving the way for secure digital collaboration between government and industry at a time when cyber security is paramount to the protection of the U.S. economy and to the security and well-being of the United States and its citizens," added McKnight. "Northrop Grumman is poised to meet the advanced threats known today and quickly respond to the unknowns of tomorrow."
The OneBadge smart card is aligned to Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12, the identification standard for government employees and contractors. Northrop Grumman's new identity badge is one of the first to be federated across the U.S. Department of Defense and the Federal Public Key Infrastructure Bridge to enable secure collaboration with Northrop Grumman's government and commercial customers and partners. Northrop Grumman is also the first aerospace and defense contractor to sign a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Department of Defense stating their trust of the OneBadge's digital certificates.
Northrop Grumman Corporation is a leading global security company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems, shipbuilding and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit for more information.
CONTACT: Marynoele Benson Northrop Grumman Information Systems (703) 556-1651 marynoele.benson@ngc.com