Cyber Applied Research
Abstract
As adversaries develop more sophisticated technology tactics, the cyber Science and Technology (S&T) community must remain agile, vigilant, and evermore creative in response. Starting in late FY 2016, the Office of Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (USD(R&E)) reviewed new cyber threats and the emerging needs of the joint operational community. As a result, a new strategic vision was developed to enhance the DoD’s tactical edge in a rapidly evolving cyber domain. Beginning in FY 2018, the following new projects were initiated in the research areas (described below): •Behavioral Cyber Science: Exploring the interaction between computers and human behavior by moving beyond binary electronic signals towards understanding human behavior. New insights from behavioral science will increase the effectiveness of tools, increase the effectiveness of the cyber workforce, and improve the utility of cyber solutions. Behavioral cyber science seeks to uncover details about how humans (represented by operators, users, adversaries, and/or defenders) react to cyber actions and how those reactions can be understood, from a behavioral science standpoint, and leveraged to create more effective actions and outcomes. •Self-Securing Systems: Prevailing in a contested cyber environment will require new sciences and mechanisms for autonomous cybersecurity to protect the increasingly complex weapon systems and platforms that help DoD operators react more quickly to cyber-attacks. Exploring foundational research in self-securing systems will arm future DoD systems with the capability to proactively, autonomously, and seamlessly assess cyber threats. Additionally, future systems will be able to deploy self-defense mechanisms to neutralize cyber-attacks, and enable blue forces to maneuver at will. Autonomous cyber defenses will need to apply the most current advances in artificial intelligence research. •Precise Cyber Effects: Precision offensive campaigns for the cyber domain require accurate and timely predictions of cyber effects to enable DoD leadership to achieve the desired outcomes from cyber operations and help manage risks associated with collateral damage. Exploring methods to derive quantifiable metrics will help improve the precision control of selecting cyber mission targets and raise the accuracy of effects; achieving an understanding of second and third order of effects will provide commanders with a higher confidence of success and limit collateral damage. •Applied Mathematics: Advancing mathematical foundations that are intrinsically linked to all branches of cyber science and technology, will cut across focus areas producing new methods to design, secure, and reason about complex cyber systems. This area of research will characterize the cyber domain, maintain the integrity of data, harden systems, and analyze potential solutions. Advances in these cyber S&T areas will promote strong foundations, while disruptive innovations will create surprise, shape the fight, and ensure a decisive advantage. The research areas are critical to the development of innovative and sustainable research that takes cybersecurity beyond the incremental escalation of attack and defense.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Project
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2020
- Source ID
- 003_0602668D8Z_2_0400_PB_2020
Related Documents
- Root: Cyber Security Research
- Child Accomplishment: Behavioral Cyber Science
- Child Accomplishment: Self-Securing Systems
- Child Accomplishment: Precise Cyber Effects
- Child Accomplishment: Applied Mathematics for Cyber