Contrast Security, Inc. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: J201-CSO1

Description

Cyberspace is a warfighting domain, and the U.S. military must take an active role in defending the country and its allies from threats in that realm,” Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said during the Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's second annual CybersecuritySummit.Cyber is the domain of choice for states and groups that wish to attack the United States, its interests and its allies. Strategic competitors such as Russia and China are asserting their military power and challenging the rules-based international order Secretary Esper noted. The Department of Defense(DoD)must respond to these challenges and continue hardening networks and systems to execute mission seven while under cyberattack. In July 2019, Acting Secretary of the Air Force, Matthew Donovan, laid out his plans for “The Digital AirForce”, intended to deploy an information technology infrastructure responsive to modern combat requirements, leverage data as the framework of machine learning and artificial intelligence to facilitate the decision-making process and enhance warfighter support and implement Agile business practices to improve the efficiency of the management enterprise. The initiative is driving to integrate warfighting, information operations, cyber, and business practices, but with rapid technological change and an evolving character of war comes the increased exposure and risk from adversary cyber threats.InMarchof2019, the Crypto/Cyber Systems Division of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC), sponsored the 2019 Air Force (AF) Cyberspace Service Core Function (SCF) Independent Research and Development (IR&D) Technology Interchange Meeting (TIM) at Kelly Field in San Antonio, TX. Leading subject matter experts (SMEs) from Air Combat Command (ACC), AFLCMC, and Air Force ResearchLaboratory (AFRL) participated and determined the following areas of significant interest: Technologies enabling predictive and automated cyber threat analysis (to include behavior-based detection) with goal of automating cyber analysis and defensive actions leveraging machine learning techniques Weapon System defensive technologies that include a way to measure/assess their ability to be resilient to evolving threats (i.e.Mission assurance)Capabilities for cyber resiliency through use of agile techniques to avoid or mitigate cyber threats for this SBIR effort, Contrast Security proposes to introduce, Contrast Enterprise, a commercially viable cybersecurity product that can defend an application portfolio throughout the entire software lifecycle. Contrast protects applications from attacks, helps development teams eliminate vulnerabilities and provides visibility to unlock threat intelligence. Carrying a Technology Readiness Level 9 (TRL-9) rating, Contrast Enterprisefully integrates vulnerability assessment with attack monitoring & protection into one seamless solution