MCLEAN, Va., Dec. 9, 2004 -- Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) today announced that it has completed five initiatives for the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS/ISAC) to help protect the financial services sector's critical infrastructure. Supported by a $2 million award to the FS/ISAC from the U.S. Department of Treasury, SAIC enhanced the service capabilities of the FS/ISAC and implemented the FS/ISAC Next Generation projects.

The FS/ISAC was created in 1999 by the financial services sector whose members consist of banking, securities and insurance companies. Today the FS/ISAC is a non-profit organization, owned and operated by its members, with SAIC as the FS/ISAC service provider. The FS/ISAC's mission is to disseminate trusted and timely information to financial services firms to increase sector- wide knowledge about physical and cybersecurity risks. The FS/ISAC was launched as a result of Presidential Decision Directive 63 in 1998 and updated in 2003 with Homeland Security Presidential Directive -7. The directives requested the public and private sector to share information about threats and vulnerabilities to help protect the critical infrastructure of the United States. Information about the FS/ISAC and how to join can be found at http://www.fsisac.com.

"SAIC worked closely with team members Telcordia Technologies, a wholly- owned subsidiary, and Archer Technologies, to design, develop and deliver these key initiatives," said Errol Weiss, SAIC assistant vice president. "During times of crisis, the U.S. Department of Treasury and the Department of Homeland Security know that the FS/ISAC can quickly reach more than 8,000 of the country's banks and insurance companies and get positive confirmation the message was received."

"Information sharing is a cornerstone of the President's strategy for the protection of critical infrastructures and key assets. The FS/ISAC is a critical part of that effort, and helps to increase the resilience of the financial services sector," said Scott Parsons, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's deputy assistant secretary for Critical Infrastructure Protection and Compliance Policy. "We applaud the FS/ISAC for building such a robust and adaptable system."

The introduction of the Critical Infrastructure Notification System (CINS) to the FS/ISAC makes it possible to send critical alerts to multiple recipients near-simultaneously, as well as provide user authentication and confirmed delivery. The system uses multiple mediums including landline telephone, cellular telephone, pager, email and short message service (SMS) messaging. CINS was developed by Telcordia Technologies and operates on the Telcordia Notification Solutions service-based platform that provides a highly reliable and scalable notification system.

The Metrics Dashboard, powered by Archer Technologies, presents key operational metrics on FS/ISAC membership statistics, operational usage and value of the ISAC.

"The metrics dashboard is instrumental in demonstrating the effectiveness of the FS/ISAC to the US Treasury and prospective members by showing, for example, how fast alerts are getting out, how many financial institutions are contributing information and how many are sharing incidents with each other," said Suzanne Gorman, the FS/ISAC chairperson.

A new data feeds capability allows the FS/ISAC to automatically accept intelligence data from commercial providers, and distributes the data directly to the FS/ISAC membership. This can dramatically improve the turnaround time for urgent and critical alerts to reach key decision makers at member institutions.

Archer Technologies also added several new secure collaboration capabilities to the FS/ISAC Web portal including an online chat and enhanced discussion forum.

Archer's new polling and survey capability allows FS/ISAC to conduct member surveys anonymously and securely within the portal. The polling feature can be used to quickly gather the vital status of the financial services sector, especially during times of crisis.

The final FS/ISAC project, a security event baseline study, is still underway. The study automatically correlates alert logs from FS/ISAC member security devices (such as firewalls and intrusion detection systems) and provides baseline data to study attacks across the financial services infrastructure. The study will examine capabilities to provide early warning, prediction and possibly the prevention of new attacks. The study results will be released to the FS/ISAC membership later this year.

Based in Overland Park, Kan., Archer Technologies delivers Enterprise Security Management software solutions to U.S. Government and Global 2000 companies that enable them to align security processes and support functions with business objectives. With more than 1,000,000 licensed users worldwide, Archer delivers an Enterprise Security Management software solution that provides organizations with a highly customizable infrastructure for managing the processes required to adequately secure and protect their enterprise. All Archer solutions, including Policy, Threat, Asset, Risk and Incident Management, are built on the highly flexible, BITS certified, Archer SmartSuite Framework, empowering customers to easily adapt our solutions to unique and changing requirements. Further information is available at http://www.archer-tech.com

Telcordia Technologies, Inc. is a leading global provider of telecommunications software and services for IP, wireline, wireless and cable. By delivering on its Elementive strategy of providing flexible, standards- based solutions that optimize complex network and business support systems, Telcordia helps enable customers to aggressively reduce costs and grow revenues. Telcordia, a subsidiary SAIC, is headquartered in Piscataway, NJ, with offices throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Central and Latin America. (http://www.telcordia.com)

SAIC is the largest employee-owned research and engineering company in the United States, providing information technology, systems integration and eSolutions to commercial and government customers. SAIC engineers and scientists work to solve complex technical problems in national and homeland security, energy, the environment, space, telecommunications, health care, and logistics. With annual revenues of nearly $7 billion, SAIC and its subsidiaries, including Telcordia Technologies, have more than 44,000 employees at offices in more than 150 cities worldwide. More information about SAIC can be found at http://www.saic.com.

Statements in this announcement other than historical data and information constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause our actual results, performance, achievements or industry results to be very different from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some of these factors include, but are not limited to, the risk factors set forth in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended January 31, 2004, and such other filings that the Company makes with the SEC from time to time. Due to such uncertainties and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof.

SOURCE SAIC

Web Site: http://www.saic.com