The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), in conjunction with the Pentagon’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC), are setting their sights on the rapidly expanding intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity and cyber warfare operations, the agency’s Acting Director Peter Highnam said.
Development of AI tools and applications for use in the cyber realm is one of several focus areas Highnam and other senior DARPA leaders plan to delve further into, as part of the agency’s long-term strategy. “When we look into the confluence of AI into cyber, that is a hugely rich space” for the development of advanced technologies, he said. “The speed in which you have to operate has demanded that AI technologies be inserted into that mission space,“ he told a small group of reporters on 30 July.
DARPA is focusing on its Harnessing Autonomy for Countering Cyberadversary Systems (HACCS), which is geared toward incorporating AI-enhanced applications to defend US armed forces’ networks (Credit: Getty Images )
One of the agency’s flagship efforts, the Harnessing Autonomy for Countering Cyberadversary Systems (HACCS) programme, is making strides in integrating AI-enhanced technologies into cyber operations, Highnam said.
The overall goal of the HACCS programme is the development of “autonomous software agents” capable of countering targeted network attacks by botnet implants, as well as large-scale malware campaigns, according to an agency fact sheet. These HACCS software agents “will develop the techniques and algorithms necessary to measure the accuracy of identifying botnet-infected networks, the accuracy of identifying the type of devices residing in a network, and the stability of potential access vectors,” it said.
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