BAE Systems will develop technologies to help the US military and intelligence agencies tackle the cyber attack threat under an $11.4 million contract announced on 13 October.
The company will work on the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity's (IARPA) Cyber-attack Automated Unconventional Sensor Environment (CAUSE) programme under the contract.
Work will focus on the development of new technologies that will assist in the forecasting and detection of cyber attacks earlier than existing methods, which typically react to attacks already underway or completed.
CAUSE aims to create new technology that will accurately predict threats and automatically provide timely warnings of cyber threats against participating organisations, allowing for defensive actions ahead of an attack.
BAE Systems will combine existing advanced intrusion detection capabilities with unconventional publicly available data sources, leveraging sources not usually associated with cybersecurity. Indicators of an attack from vast, noisy external streams of data will be determined and then related data from different sources will be correlated to generate accurate, actionable warnings.
BAE Systems will work with StratumPoint, Digital Operatives, and the University of Maryland for the programme.