As part of a contract that runs through 2018, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected Rockwell Collins to protect new land, sea, and air platforms from cyber attacks. Mathematics-based methods developed by Rockwell Collins and its partners in DARPA’s High Assurance Cyber Military Systems (HACMS) program will be employed to eliminate vulnerabilities in these platforms in the war against cyber criminals.
“In today’s highly connected world, land, air, and sea platforms can fall victim to cyber attack,” explained John Borghese, vice president of Rockwell Collins’ Advanced Technology Center, “HACMS provides peace of mind and high assurance that these systems are resistant to a cyberattack.” The HACMS methods involve architectural modeling and analysis, a secure microkernel, and automatic generation of application code. Each uses mathematical reasoning to ensure the absence of vulnerabilities that can be exploited in a cyberattack, improving the safety and security of critical electronic systems in military and commercial platforms.
The Rockwell Collins HACMS team, which includes Galois, Data 61, HRL, and the University of Minnesota, recently demonstrated the effectiveness of the approach during a demonstration in Sterling, Va. Among the platforms that received the cyber protection were an unmanned helicopter, a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and an enhanced soldier vision helmet.
