U.S. Launches Cyber Attack Detection Program

(Reuters) – The U.S. government is launching a program nicknamed “Perfect Citizen” to detect cyber assaults on private U.S. companies and government agencies running critical infrastructure, the Wall Street Journal said in its online edition.

The surveillance by the National Security Agency would rely on sensors deployed in computer networks for critical infrastructure such as the electricity grid or nuclear power plants that would be triggered by unusual activity suggesting an impending cyber attack, the unnamed sources told the newspaper.

Defense contractor Raytheon Co recently won a classified contract for the initial phase of the surveillance effort valued at up to $100 million, a person familiar with the project told the Journal.

A National Security Agency spokeswoman declined to provide comment to Reuters on the report and representatives of the Department of Homeland Security and Raytheon did not immediately return requests for comment.