£1m innovation funding to predict and counter cyber attacks

27 Apr 2020 04:04 PM

DASA awards further funding to develop novel approaches to defend UK military systems and networks from cyber threats.

The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) yesterday announced nearly £1m to further develop technology that predicts and counters cyber-attacks.

Three lead organisations, in collaboration with three additional organisations, have been awarded funding in Phase 2 of the DASA ‘Predictive Cyber Analytics’ competition.

This work will develop, adapt and merge the novel approaches explored in Phase 1 of the competition, to proactively defend deployed UK military systems and networks from the rapidly growing threat of offensive cyber action from aggressive adversaries.

Project manager Rebecca Duncan yesterday said:

Cyber security has been in an arms race for decades, with hackers continuously exploiting new vulnerabilities while developers race to patch them.

This DASA competition looks to get the UK ahead of these threats and better prepare us against – and even predict - future cyber-attacks.

As our understanding of adversaries and attack patterns improves, increased computing power and data growth continues to drive the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution with multiple new possibilities emerging to keep the UK safe and prosperous.

DASA delivery manager Robert Hammond-Smith yesterday said:

This DASA competition is bringing together the best minds in industry and academia with the brightest Government scientists and talent from the Armed Forces to innovate for a safer future for everyone in the UK.

Phase 2 seeks to further develop and enhance the predictive approaches while adapting them to the military environment. The work will allow MOD to better anticipate and mitigate the impact of cyber-attacks.

The organisations being funded are:

Seven proposals received nearly £1m in funding during Phase 1 – bringing the total funding to about £2m.

DASA finds and funds exploitable technology and innovative solutions to give UK defence and security a strategic advantage over adversaries while boosting UK prosperity.