DARPA Cyber Grand Challenge’s Final Stage
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עברית (Hebrew)
Seven teams from around the country have earned the right to play in the final competition
of DARPA’s Cyber Grand Challenge (CGC), a first-of-its-kind tournament designed to speed the development of automated security systems able to defend against cyberattacks as fast as they are launched. The winners successfully squared off against dozens of other teams for the opportunity to compete head to head next year for nearly $4 million in prizes — and the chance to help revolutionize cybersecurity going forward.
DARPA notes that CGC aims to automate the cyber defense process to identify weaknesses instantly and counter attacks in real time.
Out of 104 teams that had originally registered in 2014, twenty-eight teams made it through two DARPA-sponsored dry runs and into last month’s CGC Qualifying Event.
Each team designed an innovative system that achieves, to varying degrees, the difficult task of finding and fixing software safety problems in the kind of code used everywhere every day. Out of those, only seven have qualified to enter the final stage.
Each qualifying team will receive $750,000 to help them prepare over the next thirteen months for the CGC final competition. They will have the opportunity to access a specialized IT infrastructure, a “digital arena” in which they can practice and refine their systems against dummy opponents that DARPA is providing. For its part, DARPA is developing custom data visualization technology to make it easy for spectators — both a live audience and anyone watching the event’s video stream worldwide — to follow the action in real time during the final contest.
DARPA says that the winning team from the CGC final competition will receive $2 million. Second place will earn $1 million and third place $750,000.
