Perspecta Labs Secures Contract to Develop Autonomous Defensive Cyber Operation Solutions for Army CCDC

Chantilly, Virginia-based Perspecta Inc. announced April 22 that the Army awarded a $14.5 million contract to the company's applied research arm, Perspecta Labs, to develop autonomous defensive cyber operation solutions. Under the five-year contract, Perspecta Labs will support the autonomous defensive cyber operations program of the Army's Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC), Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center (C5ISR) at the Army's Space and Terrestrial Communications Directorate. 

As part of the effort, the company will help develop a host of autonomous cyber capabilities for the Army that are secure, easy to deploy and configure, and are adaptive and resilient to adversarial deception, according to a company statement. Perspecta Labs also will develop a machine learning solution that applies to defensive cyber operations that can be used for training, rapidly deploying and retraining containerized cyber sensors, which detect known and unknown vulnerabilities, attacks and malware. 

“Perspecta Labs will leverage its extensive expertise in machine learning, cybersecurity and tactical networking to provide innovative and effective autonomous defensive cyber operations to the Army,” said Petros Mouchtaris, president of Perspecta Labs. “We are honored to have been selected to develop a solution that meets the Army’s tactical needs for autonomy, security, ease of use, adaptability, efficiency and robustness.”

The solution will rely on the company's machine learning platform, called LUPI, or Learning Using Privileged Information, to create highly accurate cyber sensors in a heterogeneous environment. The sensors are resilient to adversarial machine learning attacks and can be efficiently and dynamically retrained to work in a tactical environment, the company said.