First set of defensive cyber kits to be delivered to CYBERCOM units

WASHINGTON — Sealing Technologies, a Parsons subsidiary, is set to deliver the first batch of new defensive cyber kits to four units Tuesday, the company told Breaking Defense.

The capability, dubbed Joint Cyber Hunt Kit (JCHK), will provide defensive cyber warriors at US Cyber Command standardized kits to conduct hunt missions for the first time, and will also include so-called hunt forward missions on foreign partner networks, Parsons President of Defense and Intelligence Mike Kushin said in an interview Friday.

“Hunting is for really the [advanced persistent threats] that are pretty hard to find, because they’re pretty sophisticated, usually [from] nation states,” Kushin said. “It provides a mechanism and offers ways to do remediation, but that is predominantly the responsibility of the teams and then working back with Cyber Command for that particular purpose.”

The kits were completed this past weekend in preparation for delivery to the priority units, the company said today.

The suitcase-sized equipment is capable of being stored in overhead compartments on airplanes, and the compact size allows CYBERCOM’s defensive SWAT teams to respond onsite to intrusions.

This type of equipment is necessary because networks can’t always be monitored in a remote security operations center, Kushin said, as some of the Department of Defense’s networks aren’t connected to the outside or accessible to wider connections. That is also the case with foreign partner networks, requiring forces to actually deploy with a kit to be able to plug in and perform the hunting. 

Parsons’ kit provides significantly more storage than prior capabilities, Kushin said, a key requirement from CYBERCOM, along with increased speed and AI capabilities to aid in identification and analysis of threats on the network.

Previously, DIU ran the JCHK contracting and acquisition on behalf of CYBERCOM, which will now take it over.

This is the first time CYBERCOM’s defensive teams have had a standardized kit, despite efforts in the past to create them, where traditionally there were variances across each of the services. Each service, responsible for equipping cyber teams, outfitted units in a slightly different manner, which led to inefficiencies across the force in kit, training, funding and operations and maintenance. 

Now, with standardized equipment, there is more efficiency across the entire force.

“The commonality will help with the [operations and maintenance] tail, so the government can focus more more money on hunting and and the tech advancements over the course of the next three years, whether it be performance or elsewhere, as opposed to O&M tail and having all these non-common units out there,” Kushin said. 

The JCHK stems from a low rate initial production contract awarded to the company to provide a dozen sets of equipment to high priority units, with the first four being delivered this past weekend. In February, a full rate production contract worth up to $500 million over three years was announced, and Kushin said that Parsons will deliver 74 units this calendar year.

In addition to CYBERCOM’s teams, Kushin said there is interest from other DoD and broader federal customers. 

“There are other government agencies, CISA, for example, who could make use of this contract if they so incline or they could set up their own contract and acquire what they need,” he said. “We like the idea of a common platform to the maximum extent possible, even if it’s Department of War in one case and Department of Homeland Security in another case. It’s beneficial to them and also makes a little bit easier for us to deliver common gear.”