The National Security Agency revealed yesterday its plan to unveil a national cybersecurity program called “Perfect Citizen” to asses vulnerabilities and secure critical infrastructures.The surveillance platform plans to detect cyber threats in private companies and federal agencies through a set of sensors placed into networks that alert suspicious activity. The main infrastructures Perfect Citizen plans to monitor include power plants, air traffic control systems and the electrical grid. Any sort of unusual activity within these networks detected by the program would immediately be flagged as a potential threat.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Perfect Citizen would also include more dated systems that lack some of the security capabilities that sophisticated models have adopted.
“This contract provides a set of technical solutions that help the National Security Agency better understand the threats to national security networks, which is a critical part of NSA’s mission of defending the nation,” NSA spokeswoman Judith Emmel said.
The program is a result of a recent contract deal with Raytheon Corp. in an effort to strengthen national cybersecurity and will use funding available from the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative, a legislation that was established during the Bush administration and is now becoming a key focus in the government. Perfect Citizen will continue to expand its capabilities as some of the obstacles are smoothed out to begin monitoring the most critical infrastructures.
