Nexus to deal with Nasa hackers

Nasa has turned to Nexus Management, a London-listed technology group, to defend its against internet attacks. The deal, which Nexus is expected to announce t as early as tomorrow, will see a subsidiary, Resilience Technology provide firewalls to the US space agency as it takes on hackers and computer viruses.

The deal is one of several contracts that Resilience will detail this week. Market sources said that the other contracts will be with a major American telecoms company and a bank based in the Caribbean.

The deals justify Nexus's acquisition of Resilience for $1.8m (£1.3m) in March. The Nexus board, led by its chief executive, Roger Richardson, said at the time that it hoped Resilience would boost its 2010 earnings.

Shares in Nexus, which has offices in the UK and Maine, are listed on the junior Alternative Investment Market. They closed at 0.38p on Friday, down from 0.40p at the start of trading and a 52-week high of 1.44p. The group's market capitalisation is nearly £4.2m.