The deal follows QinetiQ’s announcement that it plans to acquire software provider Avantus Federal by year’s end — “an important step in the execution of QinetiQ’s five-year ambitions to expand our presence in the US,” QinetiQ CEO Steve Wadey said Friday in a statement about the purchase.

In the latest deal, QinetiQ US will provide services for “system development, fabrication, sensor and system integration, prototyping of multi-function sensor suites, and technology assessment efforts” to the Prototyping Integration Facility of the C5ISR Center at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, the release said.

“We are proud to continue our partnership with the C5ISR Center and its mission partners to rapidly deliver innovative capabilities to support our national security,” said Shawn Purvis, president and CEO of QinetiQ US.

The indefinite delivery, infinite quantity contract is made up of a one-year base period followed by four one-year option periods, the release stated.

QinetiQ was named the 64th largest defense company in the Defense News Top 100 list, with a fiscal 2021 defense revenue of $1.5 billion.

The Army’s C5ISR Center — short for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance — researches and develops advanced technology. It operates under Combat Capabilities Development Command, which is under the purview of Army Futures Command — an organization responsible for modernizing the force.

16th Air Force/Air Forces Cyber, created in October, combined 24th and 25th Air Force and placed cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, electronic warfare and weather capabilities under one commander. Now, officials are learning how to use those information warfare capabilities to solve problems for air component commanders as well as combatant commanders.

“We did a very detailed analysis of what are all the existing authorities we already have, what are all of the problems our units are working across the globe and now what we’ve spent our time doing is how do we align those units that are working on the same problem,” Lt. Gen. Timothy Haugh, commander of 16th Air Force, told reporters at the Air Force Association’s air warfare symposium Feb. 28.

The glue that holds these capabilities together will be a new operations center that will open March 16, he said.

Haugh explained that 16th Air Force is trying to better connect dots and solve hard problems.

“First, we start there; what intelligence resources are we applying to that problem? Then, we likely have one of our elements of the targeting enterprise also working the same problem. We will likely also have a reconnaissance and our airborne ISR units working on a similar problem,” he said. “How do we begin to connect those dots? That’s probably been the area we’ve been very deliberate is to ensure that as we connect dots across those units that are working on similar problems to ensure we’re doing it in concert with our policies, laws and oversight.”

Leaders will also determine if cyber capabilities and authorities would help.

In addition to the operations center, Haugh also pointed to an information warfare cell, an organizational element within 16th Air Force’s headquarters that will be the “integration point for the outcomes” that the command’s officials suggest. For example, leaders may decide to employ its public affairs arm to disclose what adversaries are doing publicly or it could turn to its cyber team or it could push data to a commander to allow processes to be more effective.

A group of middle- and high-school Girl Scouts ventured into the CODE Center, Raytheon’s futuristic U.S. cybersecurity range, to solve a fictional mystery: who stole the famous Girl Scout Cookie recipe? It was all in fun, but with a serious mission: to help Girl Scouts to better understand the fascinating challenges that come with a career in computer science.

“I’ve always had a love for computer science and cybersecurity, but it seemed too complex,” said Paige C., 16, a Girl Scout from Central Maryland. “Now that I know of the many different ways to be involved in cybersecurity, it’s really opened my eyes to a career in the field.”

Forty-three percent of men said they have met or spoken to a cybersecurity professional, but just 22 percent of women could say the same, according to a recent survey sponsored by Raytheon and Forcepoint in partnership with the National Cyber Security Alliance. Raytheon is collaborating with Girl Scouts of the USA to expose more young women to careers in cyber and other STEM-related fields, with a new national computer science program created expressly for middle and high school girls.

“It is imperative to expose girls to role models in computer science, cybersecurity and the myriad of career opportunities in those fields,” said Lynelle McKay, GSUSA chief customer officer.

The program known as Think Like a Programmer Journey encourages girls to pursue careers in computer sciences such as cybersecurity, robotics, data science and artificial intelligence. Raytheon is sponsoring the multi-year program to help girls understand how to break big problems down into smaller ones, and to spot patterns and connections like engineers do. It will also include Girl Scouts’ first-ever Cyber Challenge, set to debut in 2019.

The goal is to give girls the chance to explore careers in STEM and raise their confidence level in and out of the classroom.

With as many as 1.8 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs by 2022, there is another strong mission in play: to help feed the talent pipeline and encourage the next generation of female cyber defenders.

While not a primary mission for U.S. forces, understanding information warfare and how it impacts areas of responsibility is something that is taken into consideration in U.S. cyber training and operations, according to Department of Defense officials.

“I think there are two parts to get that,” said Col. Todd Stratton, director of Air Forces Cyber Forward. “One is the more traditional approach of cybersecurity, which evolved from information assurance, which is looking at the confidentiality, the integrity and the availability of your information. That is still a core responsibility for my component, and that continues to be very important to us.

“On the flip side, when you start talking about social media and fake news, it gets to … the key to cyberspace superiority or dominance, which is the people,” continued Stratton. “When it comes down to it, it’s the training you give your airmen and your population, frankly, to think critically.”

[Related: How CYBERCOM’s efforts against ISIS have changed]

It’s enough of a concern for the Army to send a team of researchers to Ukraine to participate in an international, three-year science and technology program aimed at understanding and fighting modern information warfare.

According to an Army release, the group will develop theoretical foundations, methods and approaches toward software tools for situational awareness that enable military forces to monitor for, detect and notify of malicious information injections and information attacks, said Dr. Alexander Kott, Army Research Laboratory chief scientist.

“Information attacks have emerged as a major concern of societies worldwide. They come under different names and in different flavors — fake news, disinformation, political astroturfing, influence operations, etc,” Kott said.

“And they may arrive as a component of hybrid warfare — in combination with traditional cyberattacks (use of malware), and with conventional military action or covert physical attacks.”

At U.S. Cyber Command, much of the information-warfare emphasis is on verifying the security of data and ensuring it’s safe and worthy of essentially being deemed actionable intelligence, according to Brig. Gen. Timothy Haugh, USCYBERCOM director of intelligence.

Speaking alongside Stratton at the Nov. 28 CyberCon event in Arlington, Virginia, Haugh said that idea applies to data whether it’s on military networks or intelligence from elsewhere being used for decision-making.

“Converting that into something that’s decision quality, and trusting in that, is critical. And that’s an area that we have to partner with all elements of the government and industry as we think about what does it mean in terms of trusting the information that’s in front of us to ensure it’s not [biased] in some way and that someone hasn’t manipulated that data,” Haugh said. “We have to ensure we’re making decisions off quality information.”

An indictment filed Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan accuses Behzad Mesri of hacking into the cable network’s computer system in New York. It says he stole unaired episodes from shows including “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “The Deuce,” story plot summaries and scripts for “Game of Thrones” and confidential cast and crew contact lists.

The Mesri, 29, a fugitive living in Iran who used the alias “Skote Vahshat,” earlier this year infiltrated computer accounts of HBO employees authorized to remotely access the network’s servers, the indictment says. In July, he emailed HBO executives in New York providing evidence of the hack and demanding $5.5 million in digital currency, a figure later raised to $6 million, it says. Included was an image of “Game of Thrones” Night King character, leader of an army of zombies, with the words, “Good luck HBO.”

After HBO apparently refused to pay, Mesri began leaking portions of the stolen material on websites he controlled, the indictment says. One of the leaks was an unaired episode of a new HBO comedy called “Barry” on which he superimposed an opening credit showing the Night King and the “HBO is falling” threat, according to the indictment.

U.S. authorities described Mesri as a computer whiz who sometimes works with a hacker group in Iran called Turk Black Hat Security. He also has teamed the Iranian military to conduct cyberattacks targeting military and nuclear software systems and Israeli infrastructure, they said.

Although Mesri is not in custody, prosecutors decided to publicly charge him and put him on the FBI’s most-wanted list to send a message to outlaw hackers that U.S. law enforcement has the means to identify, track and get them arrested if they travel to countries where the United States has better relations, acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim said.

“Today, winter has come for Behzad Mesri,” Kim said. “He will forever be looking over his shoulder. And if he isn’t, he should be.”

In a statement Tuesday, HBO said it is working with law enforcement but declined further comment.