DARPA Commits To Funding Useful Hacking Projects

Hugh Pickens writes "Fahmida Y. Rashid reports that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will fund new cyber-security proposals under the new Cyber-Fast Track project intended to cut red tape for hackers to apply for funding for projects that would help the Defense Department secure computer networks, says Peiter Zatko, a hacker known as Mudge who was one of the seven L0pht members who testified before a Senate committee in 1998 that they could bring down the Internet in 30 minutes and is now a program manager for the agency's information innovation office. Anything that could help the military will be considered, including bug-hunting exercises, commodity high-end computing and open software tools and projects with the potential to 'reduce attack surface areas, reverse current asymmetries' are of particular interest. Under the Cyber-Fast Track initiative, DARPA will fund between 20 to 100 projects annually. Open to anybody, researchers can pitch DARPA with ideas and have a project approved and funded within 14 days of the application."

Comments

Mudge? This might actaully work then.

[sp332]

If you recall,there was a campaign to make Mudge the USA cyber-czar back when Obama created that post. The guy knows what he's doing, and even now that he's in big-government stuff, the community still trusts him.

Infinite Military Money

[Doc Ruby]

The military/intel is totally protected from our debt crisis, no matter how distantly related to protecting us any of its expenses might be. That's why the majority of our debt is owed for past military/intel budgets - so it costs 50% more in interest than what was appropriated on paper. And now that the debt has gotten our credit rating downgraded, it will cost us even more in interest - along with all our borrowing that it's dragged along with it.

So the smart people will turn all their projects into military/intel projects. Which will gradually turn the US into not just a hopeless debtor, but an exclusively warmongering hopeless debtor.

Re:Infinite Military Money

[Doc Ruby]

Like "why are we invading Iraq when it had nothing to do with the 9/11/2001 attacks"?

Those of us who did ask that question were drowned out by the majority of voters who insisted on re-electing Bush/Cheney instead of impeaching and imprisoning them.

Re:49 Year Old Militant Feminist Grandmother Here

[somersault]

The US government is comprised of humans. Humans have proven to be untrustworthy.

On the other hand, some humans are also trustworthy. Shit. How can I apply both of these into one absurd gross generalisation?