Cybersecurity

How DARPA sparked dreams of self-healing networks

On an August day in 2016, computer security gurus traveled to Las Vegas to prove that artificial intelligence, or AI, could find and fix flaws in software at machine speeds.

There, teams battled for nearly 12 hours to see whose automated systems could best identify and patch vulnerabilities in software, with the top three prizes ranging from $750,000 to $2 million. Judges had winnowed a field of 100 teams to seven finalists for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency-hosted Cyber Grand Challenge (CGC) Final Event.

Nearly 18 months later, DARPA officials and winnings contestants agree: AI is fast emerging as a way to give Department of Defense agencies the edge in the ongoing cat-and-mouse battle for cyber supremacy.