The interagency Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI) announced last year is beginning full execution with the award of contracts under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
National Cyber Range program, DARPA announced last week.
The object of the CNCI is to develop technologies that increase the cybersecurity of the
United States by orders of magnitude and are deployable within five to ten years. The
DARPA National Cyber Range program will work in close cooperation with private-sector partners to jumpstart technical cyber transformation. The
National Cyber Range will provide the nation with revolutionary, real-world simulation environments from which organizations can develop, field, and test new "leap-ahead" concepts and capabilities required to protect
U.S. interests against a growing, worldwide cyber threat.
BAE Systems, General Dynamics, John Hopkins University, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Science Applications International Corp. and
SPARTA were each awarded contracts as part of the first phase of the
National Cyber Range program. Each contractor will lead a team of large and small businesses, universities and federal laboratories. The total value of all contracts awarded is approximately $30 million.
"Addressing the vulnerabilities within our cyber infrastructure must become our long-term national security and economic security priority," Melissa Hathaway, director of the Joint Interagency Cyber Task Force, said. "I don't believe that this is a single-year or even a multi-year investment - it's a multi-decade approach."
"The
National Cyber Range program that DARPA is launching is a crucial component of the CNCI," DARPA Director Dr. Tony Tether explained. "The
National Cyber Range
program demonstrates the government's commitment to incubate and create incentives for game-changing technological innovation."
Ultimately, the
National Cyber Range will revolutionize the state of the art in automated range and test management to test and validate leap-ahead cyber research technologies and systems, as well as provide vision for new computer security research directions for the community.
"Through careful observation, measurement and analysis, the
National Cyber Range will develop realistic, quantifiable assessments of our nation's cyber research and development technologies," DARPA Program Manager Dr. Michael VanPutte explained.
During the program's initial eight-month phase, contractors will develop detailed engineering plans. At the conclusion of the initial phase, DARPA will make decisions regarding future plans, which notionally could include a second phase with a critical design review, and a third phase to develop the full-scale National Cyber Range and start conducting tests.
