New DARPA program seeks cybersecurity through hardware design
Pentagon scientists say they could stop 40 percent of current cyberattacks by producing secure computer chips, and Friday they explain how to a closed-door meeting of government contractors. The System Security Integrated Through Hardware and firmware, or SSITH, program aims “to develop hardware design tools that provide security against hardware vulnerabilities that are exploited through software in [Defense Department] and commercial electronic systems,” according to a procurement announcement, called a BAA, from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The DARPA program seeks only paradigm-shifting research: “Innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in science, devices, or systems. Specifically excluded is research that primarily results in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of practice,” reads the BAA. The idea is to break what SSITH program manager Linton Salmon derisively refers to as the “patch and pray” cycle of fixing vulnerabilities through software updates, even when what’s ultimately being exploited is a security weakness in the hardware. “This […]
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