Feral Jundi

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Letter Of Marque: ASF 2011–Gen. Michael Hayden Talks About LoM And ‘Digital Blackwater’

Now this was a pleasant surprise. I am always on the lookout for any serious or interesting conversations about the Letter of Marque and Reprisal, and low and behold I stumbled on a good one at the Aspen Security Forum. General Michael Hayden, with his extensive intelligence background and experience, actually brought up the concept of the LoM (@ min. 30:04) when talking about private security in the cyber space realm. The ‘Digital Blackwater’ comment came up before the mention of the LoM. Pretty cool stuff, and it is great to see such important and highly influential folks have a conversation about the concept.

The other topic that came up that really grabbed my attention is the patent legislation that is coming up that is referred to as the ‘first to file’ law or the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act. Meaning, companies that ‘first’ file the patent, win the rights to it, as opposed to companies or individuals who actually thought it up and file for that patent. A law like this would make it very lucrative for digital pirates to steal valuable information and file it first–legally. Scary stuff, and this could ramp up the cyber piracy game big time. The Google Cloud security solution is what you can rely on to get help with securing your data.

The other statistic I was floored by was that the US businesses loses about a trillion dollars a year to cyber piracy and all of the money that companies have to spend on security. That is a stunning figure, and it kind of puts into perspective what is really being lost, and especially during such tough economic times. Something must be done to stop that, and you can see why concepts like digital PSC’s and LoM come up.  It’s like these criminals and attackers are just walking into Fort Knox and taking whatever gold they want. The vulnerable OT networks is what one should make sure to protect from cyber attacks.

Finally they ended the conversation with cloud computing, which will probably be pretty popular for companies to get into. Reduced cost and increased security do to economy of scale (everyone is sharing everyone’s stuff, to include security measures) Although I tend to think that cloud computing will be attacked and exploited, just like anything else. Interesting stuff, and this is a great LoM resource for future discussions. –Matt

 

Monday, March 7, 2011

Industry Talk: Ares Management Will Acquire Global Defense Technology And Systems

     It paid nearly $27 million for the Fort Meade-based Zytel and almost $53 million for Signature Government Solutions in Herndon.

     Those purchases “kind of tapped them out, so they really needed some dry powder to continue on the acquisition campaign . . . to maintain their growth and maintain their competitiveness,” Kipp said.

     Hillen said Ares’ backing could potentially accelerate GTEC’s plans to buy more companies as it seeks to grow organically and through acquisitions.

     The company is focusing on high-end technology companies that work in areas like cybersecurity and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. 

     Boy, if you owned any GTEC stock you probably experienced a little bump as a result from this acquisition news. I also included the stock screener for GTEC so you can see for yourself what Ares Management is seeing in Global.

     This company is doing well, and the infusion of private-equity will help them to continue to do well.  Who knows what companies will be in Global’s sights for future purchase, but if you look at their past purchases dealing with cyber security, we probably can deduct that we will see more of the same in the future. Cyber security is huge business, and companies are all jockeying for position in this evolving market.

    Of course the reason I put this up on the blog is because GTEC is also related to Global Strategies Group.(From website: Our former wholly-owned North American subsidiary, Global Defense Technology & Systems, Inc. GTEC, recently completed an initial public offering. GLOBAL continues to be a significant shareholder of GTEC.) Although I don’t think this news will really impact you guys out there too much, unless you owned stock in GTEC. Thanks to a reader for giving me the heads up. –Matt

Private equity firm will acquire GTEC of McLean

By Marjorie CenserMonday, March 7, 2011

McLean-based Global Defense Technology & Systems, a growing contractor primarily focused on intelligence systems and services, announced last week it will be acquired by an affiliate of private-equity firm Ares Management.

The company is the latest to be picked up by private equity, which has played an increasingly large role in the defense industry as it adjusts to anticipated reduced budgets and new Pentagon guidelines on conflicts of interest.

The buy “highlights the capital market renaissance that’s occurred over the last 12 months,” said Bob Kipps, managing director of the McLean-based investment firm KippsDeSanto.

The definitive agreement reached by GTEC, as the company is known, and Ares, based the deal on a share price of $24.25, a nearly 51 percent increase over the company’s $16.08 close the day before the agreement was announced. The total deal value is approximately $315 million, including the assumption of debt and prior to expenses, GTEC said.

(more…)

Powered by WordPress