General Dynamics to Buy Cyber Visibility Firm Fidelis; John Jolly Comments

John Jolly

General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) has agreed to acquire cybersecurityMeasures taken to protect a computer or computer system against unauthorized access or attack. analysis and visibility provider Fidelis Security Systems for an undisclosed amount of cash, General Dynamics announced Monday.

General Dynamics expects to complete the transaction during the third quarter of 2012 and will integrate Fidelis into its advanced information systems business unit.

Both boards of directors have approved the transaction.

“Every enterprise is susceptible to increasingly frequent, sophisticated and hard-to-detect cyber threats and attacks,” said John Jolly, vice president and general manager for General Dynamics’ cyber systems division, within the AISAutomated Information Systems segment.

Jolly said in a release the company intends the acquisition to complement its cyber defense and forensic offerings for customers to address advanced cyber threats through real-time situational awareness.

“Being prepared and having the right intelligence and technologies is critical for organizations to mitigate and respond to cyber threats in real time,” said Fidelis President and CEO Peter George.

George said Fidelis will provide products to complement General Dynamics’ cyber services and incident response portfolio.

Fidelis has close to 70 employees based in Waltham, Mass. and Bethesda, Md. who provide visibility into cyber networks, with the goal of combating data breaches and other threats.

In 2011, research firm Gartner named Fidelis to its Magic Quadrant for Content-Aware Data Loss Prevention.

The following year, Gartner named the company to its list of companies who conduct the “Best Practices for Mitigating Advanced Persistent Threats” research paper, General Dynamics said.