SBIR-STTR Award

In this Phase I SBIR, MIKEL Inc. will develop emulations of common cyber threats that can be safely and securely deployed on operational networks and systems to train battle staffs and computer network defense personnel to succeed in contested cyberspace environment. The solution will advance todays state-of-the-art where realistic training on real operational networks is limited by the risk that a command is willing to tolerate to accommodate training. Live red teams produce realistic results, but are limited in their availability and the scope of what they can accomplish given real-world and exercise constraints. Cyber ranges or dedicated training facilities can create highly stressful training, but this training does not occur of the real operational network on which the staff and computer network defense personnel will operate. MIKELs solution will allow for software emulations to be introduced on real operational networks, supervised by a training coordinator. The solution will allow for the ability to update the threat database, to address emerging and theater-specific threats as needed.

Benefit:
When completed, this solution will provide a first-ever capability to conduct highly realistic training for both battle staffs and computer network defense personnel on real operational networks. This will advance the current state-of-the art to a solution space where realistic training in the detection and reaction to malware threats, and in the restoration of operations in the event of a malware intrusion. It is expected that this solution will be of great interest to the commercial and private sectors as well, since they share many of the same cyber security concerns as does the Navy and DoD.

Keywords:
emulations, emulations, network intrusion, Malware, Computer Network Defense, cyber security

The goal of this Phase II SBIR is to extract latent or unexploited information from existing submarine acoustic sensors through a highly innovative inter- and intra-sensor correlation algorithm, in order to provide U.S. submarines with increased acoustic superiority over increasingly quiet adversaries. U.S. adversaries are continuously improving their acoustic quieting technologies through efforts such as marine machining, energy generation, and propulsion. As a result, adversaries are emitting less acoustic energy than a decade ago and they will emit even less acoustic energy in the coming decade. The Department of the Navy (DoN) has made significant investments improving sensor capabilities. Today’s sensors have higher resolution that clearly separate various acoustic propagation paths providing more data available to operators and sonar algorithms than ever before. There has been a concerted effort by the Navy to find ways to extract more information from acoustic sensors while reducing operator workload, in order to retain a strategic advantage over adversaries.