18 Mar 11. AKOTA Technologies announce the release of our flagship document prioritization tool AKOTA. We created AKOTA to help intelligence analysts overcome information overload and deliver timely “actionable intelligence” products to the decision makers. AKOTA adapts to the unique and individualized way each analyst attacks each problem, and assists them in prioritizing the documents important to his or her task. In the past few years many text analytics tools have emerged to assist intelligence analysts; information extractors, summarizers, information visualizers, and sentiment analyzers to name a few. These tools help to sift through mounds of information and find “needles in haystacks,” and yet an analyst still has to read the most relevant documents in order to make the final analysis/recommendation on her findings. This is where AKOTA comes in. AKOTA allows the analyst to develop a personal rating system for a collection of documents based on what is relevant to the task at hand and to the analyst who is reading these documents. AKOTA uses human-like reasoning and relies on the thought process of the analyst, not a standardized generic process determined by a team of computer scientists disconnected from the task at hand. The processing of the interpretative rules within AKOTA is provided by KEEL Technology from Compsim. AKOTA can be used standalone, but it can also function as an addition to Text Analytics tools and Sentiment Analysis tools, picking up where they leave off. Please contact us for more information: info@akotatech.com
AKOTA Technologies – “Noise to Knowledge”
http://www.AKOTATech.com

10 Mar 11. Northrop Grumman Corporation is participating as a platinum sponsor of the 6th Annual Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC). The event is scheduled for today through Saturday at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.
The competition pits student teams from two- and four-year colleges and universities against “red team” hackers who are trying to disrupt and compromise their networks. Students are focused on the operational aspects of managing and protecting a network infrastructure. Teams are scored based on their ability to detect and respond to outside threats, maintain availability of existing services (e.g., e-mail servers), respond to business requests (e.g., add user accounts), and balance security needs against business needs. The winner of the Mid-Atlantic CCDC will advance to represent the region in the National CCDC, April 8-10, in San Antonio.
“Grooming tomorrow’s workforce is a top priority for Northrop Grumman,” said Diane Miller, director of operations, Northrop Grumman Cybersecurity Group and program director, CyberPatriot. “Competitions like these give students a real-life opportunity to test their network defense skills and see how their actions directly affect how their company operates and how critical assets are protected. It also provides companies like ours an excellent opportunity to select from the best and brightest talent.”
Students from the following eight institutions will be competing for a chance to go to the national competition. Finalists include Capitol College, Md.; Craven Community College, N.C.; Forsyth Technical Community College, N.C.; George Washington University, Washington, D.C.; Hagerstown Community College, Md.; James Madison University, Va.; University of Maryland, College Park, Md.; Wilmington University, Del. Cyber professionals from Northrop Grumman’s nearby Cyber Security Operations Center (CSOC) will participate and provide students a tour of their world-class cyber threat detection and response center in Annapolis Junction, Md. The CSOC which opened in July 2009 focuses on protecting Northrop Grumman and its customers’ networks and data worldwide. On March 12, more than 150 area high school students will also participate in a day-long program aimed at raising their awareness of cybersecurity careers. CCDC i