Charles River Analytics Inc., developer of intelligent systems solutions, is partnering with SiCore Technologies to protect against avionics malware in a program for the US Air Force. In the Avionics Vulnerability Assessment, Mitigations, and Protections program, known as AVAMP, the Air Force aims to understand and improve the cyber security of its platforms and weapons systems. As part of the SiCore team, Charles River will develop technologies to detect, analyze, and mitigate vulnerabilities and attacks on airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions.

“We are excited to be working with SiCore Technologies to develop new technologies that will protect ISR missions from cyberattacks,” said Dr. Terry Patten, Principal Scientist at Charles River Analytics. “We are addressing several important challenges under the AVAMP program, such as assessing the vulnerability of ISR systems, detecting malicious software and firmware, and automatically mitigating the effects of any attacks.”

Charles River is building on previous cyber defense efforts with the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) that focused on vulnerability analysis and automated attack analysis.

“We are also providing mitigation and protection through our Secure Resilient Operating System, a hypervisor-level OS that uses multi-kernel virtualization to provide isolation, redundancy and resilience,” added Patten. “If one hypervisor fails or is compromised, the other running hypervisors can provide low-overhead fault recovery.”

Distribution Statement A – Approved for Public Release; Distribution Unlimited. Cleared by 88ABW-2017-0291.