Coast Software to monitor defense Web sites

Coast Software Inc. of Ottawa has won a contract from the U.S. Defense Department for software that can monitor content on Air Force, Army and Navy Web sites for operational security issues. Terms of the deal were not disclosed

The Defense Department will use Coast Web Quality Central software for protecting privacy and data security, scanning for sensitive information and maintaining the integrity of Web pages, the company said.

Under the E-Government Act of 2002, agencies must adhere to Office of Management and Budget guidelines to protect the privacy rights of Web site visitors. The OMB guidelines include requirements related to specific Web tracking technologies, conducting privacy impact assessments and ensuring that privacy policies are available in machine-readable format.

The Defense Department also subjects military Web sites to its own internal standards, which include maintaining control of sensitive content to ensure it is not made publicly accessible over the Web.

"Organizations are increasingly imposing Web standards that include privacy, operational security and quality guidelines to address the concerns of customers, legislators, watchdog groups and the media," said Paul Saunders, chief executive officer of Coast Software. Coast Software's solution can help agencies with compliance, Saunders said.

Coast Web Quality Central offers summary reporting so stakeholders can monitor issues such as Web site privacy, operational security and accessibility compliance. The solution can be licensed and deployed at a customer site or hosted and managed by Coast.

Coast Software was founded in 1996 and has over 100,000 licensed users worldwide.