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The Army is working to test and mature a couple of defense cyber tools aimed at helping defend tactical networks. (U.S. Army)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army is testing whether technologies developed in a lab to defend the tactical network and ensure safe data transfer can survive real-world conditions.
These tools differ from traditional cyber defense methods given the makeup of the Army’s tactical network. Unlike a static enterprise network where servers sit in air-conditioned buildings and have near-constant connectivity, the tactical network must be mobile and distributed. This would complement the Army’s goal that formations be able to more frequently change locations, sometimes more than once an hour, in response to new tracking techniques from adversaries.
Thus, the tactical network must involve easy assembly and disassembly. It also won’t have the same access to bandwidth, connectivity and cloud capabilities of enterprise networks.
The tools being tested at Network Modernization Experiment, or NetModX, include technology that can autonomously detecting anomalies on a network, aid network defenders, and assure the viability of information and data passed from one user to another.
NetModX is focused on maturing these science and technology efforts for Program Executive Office Command, Control and Communications-Tactical for use in its tactical network modernization efforts, mostly focused on echelons from the brigade to battalion level and below in the command post. The experiment will help procurement officials determine what architectures and systems to buy.
One of the technologies undergoing testing is autonomous cyber, said Frank Geck, autonomous cyber lead for the Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Command, Control, Communication, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Center.
“A couple of main objectives of autonomous cyber is to proactively defend the network at machine speed against advanced cyber, near-peer adversaries and also help secure autonomous decision-making systems, i.e., meaning our [artificial intelligence] and machine learning,” Geck told C4ISRNET in an Aug. 19 interview.
As part of this effort, Geck said the C5ISR Center is examining and demonstrating machine learning at the tactical edge.
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“Generally, as you’ll see in an enterprise environment, that is usually done [in] more of a ‘bring all of your data into a cloud-computing’ environment,” he said. “In our particular case, because the network wouldn’t support something like that because bandwidth, we’re trying to do machine learning at the tactical edge and prove that out here.”
Geck characterized some of these efforts as human-machine teaming because developers are including humans in the decision-making process, though machine-learning capabilities are designed to aide network defenders at the tactical tip of the spear.
Another key technology being tested at NetModX is called information trust. This is a system of software capabilities that seek to improve the fidelity of data.
In other words, it creates enhanced awareness of information from its creation to when it reaches the consumer, according to Wendy Choi, the information trust lead at the C5ISR Center, who also spoke to C4ISRNET. This allows users and consumers to track changes in that data and see where such changes occur.
This is particularly important, as adversary’s have demonstrated their penchant for not just pilfering and deleting data when gaining access to networks, but altering data to blunt effective decision-making. After all, commanders must be able to trust the data they are getting across the network.
Choi added that at NetModX, the Army is also testing commercial block chain technologies to evaluate their applicability in this tactical, degraded environment.
www.c4isrnet.com
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army is testing whether technologies developed in a lab to defend the tactical network and ensure safe data transfer can survive real-world conditions.
These tools differ from traditional cyber defense methods given the makeup of the Army’s tactical network. Unlike a static enterprise network where servers sit in air-conditioned buildings and have near-constant connectivity, the tactical network must be mobile and distributed. This would complement the Army’s goal that formations be able to more frequently change locations, sometimes more than once an hour, in response to new tracking techniques from adversaries.
Thus, the tactical network must involve easy assembly and disassembly. It also won’t have the same access to bandwidth, connectivity and cloud capabilities of enterprise networks.
The tools being tested at Network Modernization Experiment, or NetModX, include technology that can autonomously detecting anomalies on a network, aid network defenders, and assure the viability of information and data passed from one user to another.
NetModX is focused on maturing these science and technology efforts for Program Executive Office Command, Control and Communications-Tactical for use in its tactical network modernization efforts, mostly focused on echelons from the brigade to battalion level and below in the command post. The experiment will help procurement officials determine what architectures and systems to buy.
One of the technologies undergoing testing is autonomous cyber, said Frank Geck, autonomous cyber lead for the Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Command, Control, Communication, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Center.
“A couple of main objectives of autonomous cyber is to proactively defend the network at machine speed against advanced cyber, near-peer adversaries and also help secure autonomous decision-making systems, i.e., meaning our [artificial intelligence] and machine learning,” Geck told C4ISRNET in an Aug. 19 interview.
As part of this effort, Geck said the C5ISR Center is examining and demonstrating machine learning at the tactical edge.
Know all the coolest acronyms
Sign up for the C4ISRNET newsletter about future battlefield technologies.
(please select a country) United States United Kingdom Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, The Democratic Republic of The Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote D'ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guinea Guinea-bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and Mcdonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco Mongolia Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and The Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and The South Sandwich Islands Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand Timor-leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States United States Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Viet Nam Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, U.S. Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe
“Generally, as you’ll see in an enterprise environment, that is usually done [in] more of a ‘bring all of your data into a cloud-computing’ environment,” he said. “In our particular case, because the network wouldn’t support something like that because bandwidth, we’re trying to do machine learning at the tactical edge and prove that out here.”
Geck characterized some of these efforts as human-machine teaming because developers are including humans in the decision-making process, though machine-learning capabilities are designed to aide network defenders at the tactical tip of the spear.
Another key technology being tested at NetModX is called information trust. This is a system of software capabilities that seek to improve the fidelity of data.
In other words, it creates enhanced awareness of information from its creation to when it reaches the consumer, according to Wendy Choi, the information trust lead at the C5ISR Center, who also spoke to C4ISRNET. This allows users and consumers to track changes in that data and see where such changes occur.
This is particularly important, as adversary’s have demonstrated their penchant for not just pilfering and deleting data when gaining access to networks, but altering data to blunt effective decision-making. After all, commanders must be able to trust the data they are getting across the network.
Choi added that at NetModX, the Army is also testing commercial block chain technologies to evaluate their applicability in this tactical, degraded environment.
US Army tests network cyber tools under real-world conditions
The Army is working to test and mature a couple of defense cyber tools aimed at helping defend tactical networks.
www.c4isrnet.com
