Lockheed Martin formed the information security group along with APC by Schneider Electric, CA, Cisco, Dell, EMC Corporation and its RSA security division, HP, Intel, Juniper Networks, McAfee, Microsoft, NetApp, Symantec and VMware.

The companies will carry out information security test scenarios in simulated customer environments, along with systems integration pilots. Other activities include improving early threat detection. Many activities will take place at the NexGen Cyber Innovation and Technology Center, which opened at the same time as the alliance was announced.

The information security center is a 25,000 ft.² design and collaboration facility at Lockheed Martin's headquarters. It includes distributed computing and virtualization capabilities to simulate networks under attack.

The defense industry could do with better information security, as illustrated by the theft of electronic details pertaining to the Joint Strike Fighter project last April. Lockheed Martin was the prime contractor on the project, which was worth around $300 billion. Reports emerged that sensitive records concerning the fighter program had been stolen, possibly by hackers operating from China.