Tech

DARPA Gather's World's Best Computer Experts For Cyber Grand Challenge, Defeat Hackers For Good

Michael Finn
First Posted: Jul 19, 2016 06:39 AM EDT

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA, will gather a team of the world's best security experts to try and tip the favors towards the good against cyber hackers and malware.

Computer viruses are in the process of being eliminated by the DARPA by gathering a team of the world's best computer experts. The Cyber Grand Challenge, CGC, is an event that will determine if an autonomous program has the capabilities to hunt security vulnerabilities that hackers can use to attack a computer. It will aim on creating a patch or fix a computer without involving humans.  

According to Mike Walker, DARPA CGC program manager, the idea for the program is to start a technology revolution.

Computer viruses and hackers might be a thing in the past if CGC is successful. The program will not only protect laptops, but smartphones and other devices as well. For a national level, it may have the capabilities of of preventing a bigger scale of attacks against power plants, air traffic infrastructures, and water supplies.

It may not be important for some people who have the latest computer antivirus program, since it can find and deal with any security flaws, but is has limited capabilities, Norton community reported. Humans are in charge of designing software to detect and fix flaws.

Computer viruses and malware are found and fixed by smart people who are responsible for hunting it down on computers. Two ways companies find security problems is by searching vigilantly for the flaws in operating systems and programs, and when researchers learn about the security issues and work on fixing it.

Meanwhile, on July 16, chinese hackers hacked tw of Philippines' government agencies and posted a message on on the government websites saying it's from the Chinese Government, HitB Sec News reported. Instances like this is where CGC comes it. Walker explains that DARPA's previous challenges included the self-driving car program. In the CGC challenge, teams of researchers, programmers, and students work together to complete the specific goal of stopping computer viruses.

Computer viruses will be prevented by developing a program that can sniff out operating system vulnerabilities and create a patch without human intervention. All the teams assembled will not work together, but will battle against each other in a digital capture the flag.

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