U.S. Government Embraces Automated Cybersecurity


Agencies in the federal government are working to develop tools and software that would automate cybersecurity – essentially, an effort to remove human error from the equation. A new report out by NextGovdetails the automation effort, and why these tools aren’t yet ready for government-wide deployment.

Much of the cybersecurity efforts in government currently, revolve around detection, mitigation and defense – this new technology would enable cybersecurity to be baked into the software being used by agencies, therefore more secure by nature.

However, with budget constraints and acquisition restrictions, the ability for agencies to acquire and implement automated cybersecurity, is limited.

“Agencies are generally undermanned and undertrained and many are not using the tools they have to their full capability,” former federal Chief Information Security Officer Gregory Touhill said in the report. “Fixing that would be a better return on investment at this point, rather than introducing something that adds complexity.”

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency hosted an event last year in Las Vegas, the Cyber Grand Challenge, which was part of a larger push to move away from a landscape where software is highly vulnerable by nature, and end the constant cycle of cat-and-mouse patching with hackers, according to report author Joseph Marks.

DARPA, and competitors in the Cyber Grand Challenge are aiming to jumpstart the move away from a world where viruses and malware can hide undetected for years in a computer system, to one where they are discovered in a matter of weeks, days or even seconds, according to NASA astrophysicist, and announcer of the event, Hakeem Oluseyi.

 

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Source: Electronics 360.