RETAIL

FAIRFAX, Va. -- American Management Systems, Incorporated (NASDAQ:AMSY) , a global business and IT consulting firm, and Veridian Corporation (NYSE:VNX) , a leading provider of information- based solutions for national security programs, today announced that the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) has successfully carried out one of the first state-wide cyber attack simulations, in preparation for the possibility that terrorists could sabotage critical government computer systems. Results of the drill, for which AMS and Veridian provided their world-class cyber security technical expertise, will be used to strengthen the already-established emergency preparedness program for state and local government entities. "I'm extremely proud that Texas is taking a leadership position in this effort," said Carolyn Purcell, chief information officer for the state of Texas. "Texas is among the first states to expand their emergency preparedness plan to include cyber terrorism. This initial exercise successfully identified areas in the system that we can enhance. We can now move forward with a better understanding of how to protect vital government systems in the event of a cyber attack in Texas, as well as share lessons learned with the other states." "Safeguarding cyber assets is as important as protecting physical infrastructures -- given our growing dependence on the full operation of our IT assets to effectively communicate, identify and respond to threats," added Mel Mireles, director of the state's Enterprise Operations Division, Department of Information Resources. The DIR collaborated with the Texas Department of Emergency Management to conduct the simulation and as part of the collaborative team. AMS's Austin office and Veridian's office in San Antonio provided leading project management and scenario development expertise for the exercise. The team is currently working to analyze the results and document the lessons learned to reduce the state's vulnerability and improve its response time in the event of a cyber attack on critical information technology infrastructure. "AMS has extensive experience in the public sector transforming the security efforts of federal organizations. We have translated this leading expertise to apply to the state of Texas and its local government entities," said Kate Connolly, Texas state executive, AMS. "We congratulate the state for taking proactive measures such as the cyber attack tabletop exercise that further demonstrates its commitment to ensuring the safety of Texas citizens." "We are pleased to extend Veridian's exercise and training expertise into the homeland security arena by supporting a range of state and local cyber terrorism exercises," said Jim Jaeger, vice president, Veridian Cyber Assurance Group. "For over a decade, Veridian teams have developed and supported a wide range of military exercises with advanced joint training simulations. In the cyber security arena, Veridian generates exercise scenarios, scripts exercise events, and provides a team of experts to help our customers better secure their networks following the exercise."