19 novembre 2024 | International, C4ISR
Latvia selects ASCOD from GDELS
The Latvian Ministry lately confirmed that the ASCOD from GDELS was selected after an international competition with extensive functional tests.
26 décembre 2018 | International, C4ISR
How the new acting Pentagon chief views cybersecurity
By: Justin Lynch
President Donald Trump announced in a Dec. 23 tweet that Patrick Shanahan will become acting secretary of defense Jan. 1, replacing outgoing Pentagon chief Jim Mattis two months early. While it is not clear how long Shanahan will remain in the job, he is on the short list of officials who could become the full-time Pentagon chief.
Regardless of the length of his tenure, Shanahan, the Pentagon deputy since 2017, has been one of the Pentagon's top advocates for stronger contractor cybersecurity and IT acquisition and will lead the department months after it was given expansive and loosely defined authorities to conduct offensive cyber operations.
How Shanahan will handle these greater cyber authorities, even on a temporary basis, remains an open question that will be tested immediately amid evolving challenges, such as an alleged hacking campaign from China.
Unclear views on cyber operations
In August, the secretary of defense was given the ability to conduct offensive cyber operations without informing the president as long as it does not interfere with the “national interest” of the United States, four current and former White House and intelligence officials have told Fifth Domain.
A Pentagon official told Fifth Domain that while there is a general outline of what specific operations may affect the American “national interest,” some details are not explicitly defined.
And a review of his public remarks show that Shanahan has not made significant comments about how America should conduct offensive cyber operations. He has shiedaway from giving detailed responses about U.S. Cyber Command.
“There are two new war-fighting domains, cyber and space, for which we are developing doctrine and capabilities,” Shanahan said Sept. 19.
A spokesperson for Shanahan did not respond to questions from Fifth Domain.
Focus on defense contractors
As deputy, Shanahan has focused on “re-wiring” the Pentagon. He has called good cybersecurity “foundational” to working with the department.
“Cybersecurity is, you know, probably going to be what we call the ‘fourth critical measurement.' We've got quality, cost, schedule, but security is one of those measures that we need to hold people accountable for,” Shanahan said Sept. 19 during an Air Force Association conference.
Shanahan's focus on contractor cybersecurity comes as China is believed to be targeting defense contractors, particularly those on the lower end of the supply chain, in an attempt to steal sensitive American secrets, according to intelligence officials and industry executives.
Shanahan, however, has placed responsibility among the top defense firms.
“I'm a real strong believer that the Tier 1 and Tier 2 leadership has a responsibility to manage the supply chain,” Shanahan said in the Sept. 19 speech.
In October, Shanahan was put in charge of a new Pentagon task force to combat data exfiltration that focuses in part on these defense firms.
“Together with our partners in industry, we will use every tool at our disposal to end the loss of intellectual property, technology and data critical to our national security,” Shanahan told Fifth Domain in October.
A specific area of focus inside the department is finding out which companies are in the Pentagon's supply chain, according to officials involved in the process, but it is not clear if it is specifically part of Shanahan's task force.
Inside the Pentagon, Shanahan has also emphasized the need for smarter IT acquisition.
In an October. interview with Fifth Domain, Shanahan expressed frustration with the Pentagon's procurement process, but said to expect “a number of things that are foundational to being able to achieve enterprise solutions.”
He hinted that those changes are focused on the “right platforms and the right level of integration” that can support high-end computing and artificial intelligence.
“I'm super frustrated that we can't go faster on like basic things like the cloud,” Shanahan said. “Most of everything we do is software-driven.”
Aaron Mehta contributed to this report.
https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/2018/12/24/how-the-new-acting-pentagon-chief-views-cybersecurity
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23 janvier 2019 | International, C4ISR
The Army wants to use AI to prevent cyberattacks
By: Justin Lynch If the U.S. Army has its way, soldiers deployed on the battlefield will be shielded from cyberattacks without human involvement. The Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground is conducting research into how artificial intelligence can protect soldiers' tactical networks and communications from cyberattacks, according to a Jan 14. announcement. Among the areas of research are ways for machine learning to automatically detect known cyber vulnerabilities, spot previously unknown malware and respond to a cyberattack. After the market research is submitted, the Army will use the submissions for informational and planning purposes only. The Army's hunt for AI research comes as the Pentagon has grown more interested in defending against cyberattacks that itself use machine learning. It is a future where machines will fight machines in cyberspace. That concern was evident in the service's announcement. “The cyber technology will secure automated network decisions and defend against adaptive autonomous cyberattacks at machine speed,” the Army wrote. Evidence of the Army's focus on AI was evident during the 2018 CyCon conference in November. The Army is interested in three primary categories of artificial intelligence attacks, Maj. Nathan Bastian, a researcher at the Army Cyber Institute said during the conference. First, data poisoning is a method in which an attacker inserts malicious information into a data set. Because artificial intelligence relies on these data sets to make decisions, their manipulation blunts machine learning's effectiveness, Bastian said. Second, an attack on artificial intelligence can take place by changing the classification methods. For example, if a cat is incorrectly labeled as a dog, than artificial intelligence's use is mitigated, Bastian said. Third, an inference attack, or figuring out where machine learning's boundaries lie, can be a weapon to defeat artificial intelligence. By discovering the limitations of the machine's algorithm, Bastian said hackers can manipulate its effectiveness. The Department of Defense has expanded its research into AI in recent months. In October 2018, the service created its AI task force, which is located at Carnegie Mellon University. Projects are initiated by the Army Futures Command. The Pentagon also created its Joint AI Center in the summer of 2018. At the CyCon conference, Brig. Gen. Matthew Easley, head of the Army's new AI task force, said that the Pentagon needs to integrate commercial AI products. “The commercial sector is driving current breakthroughs in applications of AI,” Easley said. Easley laid out four principles for what the Army sees as a successful AI project. They include clean data, an articulate use case, talent and technology. However, Easley cautioned about the boundaries of machine learning during the event. Limitations of AI can include a sample size that is too small and limited ability to use the machine learning in the field. He also said that AI struggles to detect zero-day attacks, which are programming bugs. “AI is not all that easy,” Easley said. “Realizing the potential of AI will require major transformation,” for the Pentagon. https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/2019/01/22/the-army-wants-to-use-ai-to-prevent-cyberattacks
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13 août 2024 | International, Aérospatial
Poland buys 96 Apache helicopters to boost attack capabilities
Once the 96 aircraft are delivered, the Polish military will be the Apache’s second largest user in the world, preceded only by the U.S. military.