DULLES, Va., July 13, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Raytheon
Company (NYSE: RTN) team participating in the Defense Advance
Research Project Agency's Cyber Grand Challenge has advanced to the
next round of competition to identify the computer security experts
who are best at developing new automated cybersecurity systems.
DARPA's Cyber Grand Challenge is a first-of-its-kind tournament
that speeds the development of automated security systems able to
defend against cyberattacks as fast as they are launched. The
qualifying competition, which began with over 28 academic and
industry teams from around the world, has been narrowed down to
seven finalists.
"The emergence of the Internet of Things and the growth of cloud
computing and mobility is transforming everyday life and creating
significantly more surface attack area for the cyber threat," said
David Wajsgras, president of
Raytheon's Intelligence, Information and Services business.
"Raytheon is participating in DARPA's Cyber Grand Challenge because
we see the imperative today, to more effectively offset the growing
pervasiveness and effectiveness of the cyber threat and help solve
one of our country's toughest security challenges."
The goal of DARPA's Cyber Grand Challenge is to address the
inadequacy of current network security systems, which require
expert programmers to identify and repair system weaknesses. To
help accelerate this transition, DARPA launched the Cyber Grand
Challenge as a computer security tournament built around the use of
automated Cyber Reasoning Systems in place of experts. The
Challenge uses a "capture the flag" competition format that
requires competitors to create a computer program that autonomously
reverse engineers software created by the contest's organizers, and
then find and fix its hidden weaknesses.
"The Raytheon team is helping to usher in an exciting era for
our customers as we develop computer programs that can
self-diagnose and automatically fix vulnerabilities," said
Jack Harrington, vice president of
cybersecurity and special missions at Raytheon Intelligence,
Information and Services. "The technologies emerging from this
competition could change the balance of power between hackers and
defenders."
Most competitors, including Raytheon, have entered on the "open
track" available to self-funded teams. The final challenge
competition will be held in 2016 in conjunction with DEFCON, one of
the largest computer security conferences in the world held each
year in Las Vegas.
About Raytheon
Raytheon Company, with 2014 sales of
$23 billion and 61,000 employees
worldwide, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in
defense, civil government and cybersecurity markets throughout the
world. With a history of innovation spanning 93 years, Raytheon
provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration
and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and
command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well
as cybersecurity and a broad range of mission support services.
Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham,
Mass. For more about Raytheon, visit us at www.raytheon.com
and follow us on Twitter @Raytheon.
Media Contacts
Raytheon
Jason Kello
+1.571.250.1428
iispr@raytheon.com
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SOURCE Raytheon Company