November 12, 2021 | International, C4ISR, Security
Pentagon wants industry's help to bolster allies and partners' cybersecurity
The Pentagon's cyber policy shop wants US industry to help allies and partners strengthen cybersecurity.
February 14, 2019 | International, C4ISR
What the Pentagon’s new AI strategy means for cybersecurity
By: Justin Lynch
The new Pentagon artificial intelligence strategy serves as a roadmap for how the American military will embrace machine learning in future cyber operations, which could be a boon for companies who invest in the technology.
Released Feb 12, the Pentagon's strategy shows how the American military will rely on artificial intelligence as a defensive tool.
“We will increase our focus on defensive cybersecurity of hardware and software platforms as a precondition for secure uses of AI,” the Pentagon's new strategy states. “ In order to ensure DoD AI systems are safe, secure, and robust, we will fund research into AI systems that have a lower risk of accidents; are more resilient, including to hacking and adversarial spoofing.”
A particular focus of the new strategy is researching “emergent effects,” which is what happens when two artificial intelligence systems interact. The Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground, for one, is conducting studies into how artificial intelligence can protect soldiers' tactical networks and communications from cyberattacks.
The Pentagon's artificial intelligence strategy comes as both the American military and hackers have embraced machine learning for cyberattacks.
According to an analysis by Fifth Domain, more than half of the new challenges and programs announced by the intelligence community's research arm in 2018 involve machine learning or predictive analytics, which represents a potential boon for cybersecurity researchers.
In December, the Pentagon announced that Air Force Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan would be head of a new artificial intelligence center.
Hackers are using artificial intelligence during cyberattacks, Sam Curry, the chief security officer at Cybereason, a threat intelligence firm, told Fifth Domain. Curry said that a particular risk with artificial intelligence is the use of “second order chaotic systems,” where events cause data inputs to change, using the stock market as an example.
“Second order systems with badly applied, overreacting machine learning are prone to exploitation,” Curry said.
With the release of the artificial intelligence strategy, the Pentagon is attempting to combat significant investments in machine learning by other countries.
“Other nations, particularly China and Russia, are making significant investments in AI for military purposes, including in applications that raise questions regarding international norms and human rights,” the strategy says. “The costs of not implementing this strategy are clear. Failure to adopt AI will result in legacy systems irrelevant to the defense of our people, eroding cohesion among allies and partners, reduced access to markets that will contribute to a decline in our prosperity and standard of living, and growing challenges to societies that have been built upon individual freedoms.”
On the same subject
-
-
September 9, 2022 | International, Land
Poland signs massive Abrams contract
The U.S. says they'll be the first General Dynamics Land Systems enhanced Abrams and are expected to reach Poland in early 2025.
-
June 11, 2019 | International, Aerospace
C-130Hs to get avionics upgrade in half-billion dollar deal
By: Stephen Losey The Air Force has awarded a $499 million contract to L3 Technologies to modernize avionics for the service's Guard and Reserve C-130H Herculesfleet. In a June 6 release, L3 said it had received the Air Force's C-130H Avionics Modernization Program Increment 2 contract, to design, produce and certify a plan to upgrade the 176 Hercules aircraft belonging to the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve. L3 said its upgrades will improve the Hercules' availability, reliability and sustainability, while lowering its costs to operate the transport aircraft. The aircraft will receive a commercial off-the-shelf avionics suite and L3 will provide training services, according to the release. The contractor will carry out the work at its facility in Waco, Texas. “L3 is committed to delivering innovative, cost-effective solutions to ensure mission readiness in support of the U.S. Air Force's modernization strategy,” L3 CEO and president Christopher Kubasik said in the release. “We are focused on providing an agile and low-risk approach to modernizing the Air Force's diverse fleet of C-130s, enabling these assets to operate well into the future.” The Air Force's C-130Hs are among the older transport aircraft in the fleet. In 2017, the most recent year for which data is available, the Air Force's 188 C-130Hs had an average age of 28 years. https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2019/06/10/c-130hs-to-get-avionics-upgrade-in-half-billion-dollar-deal/