Countering Future Cyber Threats to Air Force Weapon Systems

ABSTRACT: As modern technology has produced a highly-diversified suite of technologies to build upon, warfighting assets have grown, shrunk, become more powerful, and changed in almost every other quantifiable dimension. Following these changes and the proliferation of network-based systems, the opportunities for adversaries to target weapons systems are ever-present and only increasing. For this Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase I effort, Pikewerks Corporation will research, design, and prototype core capabilities to protect weapons systems from malicious modifications to hardware, firmware, and software components. Specific weapon system platforms, hardware or software, will not be targeted; instead, Pikewerks will develop a broader protection framework by modeling system components and the intended missions and then identifying potential threats adversaries may leverage. Moreover, these models will drive the triggering and response mechanisms built into system monitoring capabilities that protect the system and impede detection by attackers. As the program continues, Pikewerks will incorporate adaptive healing and attack mitigation capabilities to achieve mission assurance via attack resiliency. BENEFIT: Solutions developed under this effort will ensure U.S. weapon systems are resilient to hardware-and software-based cyber threats.