Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ) or H-P has been awarded a cybersecurity task order by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The contract is valued at $32.4 million and is aimed to strengthen cybersecurity and safeguard the networks of 33 government agencies against cyber-attacks.

Per the contract, Hewlett-Packard will provide a software security product license to develop a preventive mechanism against cyber-attacks. This five-year contract makes Hewlett-Packard a major player in security assurance software under the DHS Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (:CDM) Blanket Purchase Agreement (:BPA), which was initiated in Aug, 2013.

Initially, the company was selected as technology provider by the DHS for the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (:CDM), Tools and Continuous Monitoring as a Service (CMaaS) General Services Administration (:GSA) Blanket Purchase Agreement (:BPA). The contract was valued at $6 billion over a one-year base period with four one-year options to support system against cyber-attacks.

In today’s technology driven world, cyber-crime has become an area of major concern. Enterprises and government agencies continue to suffer owing to a significant increase in cyber-attacks and are therefore looking for more stringent cybersecurity measures to plug the loopholes in the system. Just recently, the breach of sensitive information of the Department of Energy recently affected approximately 104,000 people.

According to the 2013 Cost of Cyber Crime Study, enterprises affected by cybercrime spend an average of $11.56 million to recover over a 10-month period, which has increased 78% since the time the study was first completed four years ago.

The Study also revealed that corporations are deploying advanced security intelligence tools in their IT systems such as security information and event management (:SIEM), network intelligence systems and big data analytics to mitigate cyber threats.

Enterprises are adopting strong online security measures against cyber-crime and efforts are being made to improve coordination as well. To capitalize on this market potential, cyber security providers such as EMC Corp. (EMC), Symantec Corp. (SYMC) and McAfee, a subsidiary of Intel Corp. (INTC), are developing new and innovative security solutions to cater to their clients.

Currently, Hewlett-Packard has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

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