Federal intelligence services are seeking a developer to create software that can predict cyber threats before they emerge.
The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity finished a bidding procession Monday for a contractor to create what it calls CAUSE, or Cyber-attack Automated Unconventional Sensor Environment. “CAUSE aims to develop and test new automated methods that forecast and detect cyber-attacks significantly earlier than existing methods,” the agency’s summary explains. “The program is envisioned as a multi-year, multi-phase, research effort.”
The winning bidder will be announced in a matter of weeks.
IARPA is a federal research agency that falls under the Office of National Intelligence that invests in “high-risk, high-payoff” research programs. It anticipates that this project will begin in February 2016 and run until mid-2019.
“Cyber attacks evolve in a phased approach,” the agency states in its request for proposals. “Detection typically occurs in the later phases of an attack, and analysis often occurs post-mortem to investigate and discover indicators from earlier phases.”
However, “Observations of earlier attack phases, such as target reconnaissance, planning, and delivery may enable warning of significant cyber events prior to their most damaging phases.”
Experts have been warning that the costs will be enormous if cybersecurity fails to advance more rapidly. A study published by the Atlantic Council this week suggested that cyberattacks could consume as much as $90 billion in world gross domestic product by 2030.
National governments have also been reeling from cyberattacks over the past year. A breach of the Office Personnel Management that began no later than December went undetected until April, at least four months later. Intrusions into systems belonging to the Indian government went undetected for as long as two years.
