GAITHERSBURG, Md., Sept. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon is the newest member of the Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) Cyber Security Alliance, a group of leading companies in the security industry dedicated to collaborating to address the growing threat posed by cyber attacks against the country's critical IT infrastructure.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110419/PH85737LOGO-b)

The Lockheed Martin Cyber Security Alliance brings together the cyber security capabilities and technologies from market leading companies in a collaborative environment that integrates best practices, hardware, software, and tools within a research and development facility, the NexGen Cyber Innovation and Technology Center. The Center fosters an agile environment where alliance members and customers work together to innovate and pilot programs to address cyber security challenges, including early threat detection, data protection, and multi-layer self-healing capabilities. 

Both Lockheed Martin and Verizon will apply their respective intelligence-driven threat detection and defense methodologies to various projects undertaken by the Lockheed Martin Cyber Security Alliance.  In addition, Verizon will contribute insights gained through the"Verizon 2012 Data Breach Investigations Report".  Now in its fifth year of publication, this year's edition analyzes 855 data breaches involving more than 174 million compromised records - the second-highest data loss that Verizon has seen since it began collecting data in 2004.

"With its use of technology, broad industry knowledge, and solid portfolio of cyber security solutions, we are pleased to welcome Verizon to the Lockheed Martin Cyber Security Alliance," said Curt Aubley, vice president & chief technology officer, NexGen Cyber Innovation and Technology Center.  "Through close collaboration with the other Alliance members, we will work with Verizon to explore and identify emerging network defense capabilities to support customers in both government and commercial areas."

Susan Zeleniak, senior vice president, public sector markets, Verizon Enterprise Solutions, said:  "The threats posed by cyber crime are very real and impact every person and organization across the United States and around the world.  By working together through organizations such as the Lockheed Martin Cyber Security Alliance, we can identify common-sense solutions to combat these threats and help ensure the integrity of critical data, applications and systems."

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs about 120,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation's net sales for 2011 were $46.5 billion.

SOURCE Lockheed Martin