BAE Systems to develop cyber defence tools for massive enterprise networks

BAE Systems has been tasked with developing tools capable of detecting and analysing cyber threats that will help protect extremely large enterprise networks.

The contract with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has been valued at around $5.2 million (£4.09 million). 

Most tools currently available do not offer the scale and processing speed needed to adequately defend enterprise networks. As such, DARPA hopes to develop, demonstrate and evaluate new automated cyber defence tools for use within and across these types of networks.

BAE Systems says its unique solution, which combines advanced machine learning and cyber attack modeling, will address this need by automatically detecting and defeating advanced cyber threats that could currently go undetected.

Ultimately, this would result in better defended commercial networks, using existing storage and resources. The technology could also be used to help protect government and military networks.

Anne Taylor, product line director for BAE Systems’ cyber technology group, commented: “Today, advanced cyber attacks within many enterprise networks go entirely unnoticed among an overwhelming amount of network data or they require intensive manual analysis by expert teams.

“Our technology aims to alleviate resource constraints to actively hunt for cyber threats that evade security measures, enhancing the collective cyber defense of these networks.”