GBS recently won and was awarded a $12.6M, 5-year contract for its Federal Division to provide
engineering and programmatic support to Code 531 at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia
Division (NSWCPD). As warfare and technology evolve the requirements to have a strong cyber presence
and security stance increases to meet the developing potential challenges. The Navy has identified the
need for increasing the cyber knowledge and savvy of its forces and for finding cyber-secure solutions
for all of its HM&E Control Systems, as well as the systems that provide monitoring, protection, and
evaluation. NSWCPD Department 50, is responsible for Cybersecurity Modeling, Simulations,
Assessments, and Analysis of shipboard Naval Control System (NCS) networks. These systems are under
the responsibility of NSWCPD Code 53 and addressed by GBS as part of our new contract.
We are currently providing personnel and resources for multiple task instructions and addressing a
multitude of cyber related security measures by providing our expertise to support systems engineering,
computer engineering and information systems security management. GBS is meeting this challenge
with it’s vast experience and by bringing to it’s team new engineers and subject matter experts that are
providing a wealth of knowledge and experience from defense, maritime, and other industries.
As part or this new contract, we are supporting the development and improvement of the Navy Cyber
Vulnerability Assessment Tool (CVAST) by providing engineering and technical services associated with
analyzing the Cybersecurity Posture of Navel platforms through Modeling & Simulations (M&S),
Vulnerability Analysis, Threat Analysis, Risk Assessments, and recommending and evaluating Security
Controls and Mitigations, with Structured Data Modeling and Data Analytics. Mark Kiser is conducting
engineering analysis of various DDG-51 shipboard systems which includes the identification of the
subsystems and components associated with the system and documenting the relationship of the
components and subsystems to the system. Chris Miller is building associated test models and
structures. Impacts are evaluated and associated to their effect on the ship’s missions and mission
capabilities. This data and the models are incorporated into the overall CVAST process. Gregory Farn is
providing computer engineering and programming support for CVAST development related to the CVN-
68 platform. He is part of the natural language processing team which is creating a tool to identify attack
vectors to navy control systems. Justin Eagle is part of a team looking at the next level of CVAST
development that will be implemented onboard the new DDG(X) platform. He is reviewing the technical
documentation for the platform’s cybersecurity and network standards along with researching software,
equipment, vendors, and operating systems to look for any open vulnerabilities, and potential bugs.
In addition to these efforts GBS will soon be providing support to the Naval Combat Design Specification
(NCDS) and Design Practice Criteria development for Naval Control Systems. We will be evaluating
proposed cybersecurity solutions for Naval Control Systems and providing viable alternative solutions to
identified cybersecurity problems. This will involve interacting with other subject matter experts as
needed to investigate cybersecurity solutions and provide the best way forward in development of the
system.