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10 big ideas from the Pentagon lab that (really) invented the Internet

The Pentagon's DARPA scientists are working to bring to fruition innovations that could affect daily life as dramatically as the World Wide Web. Here are 10 of them.

3. An unhackable computer

  • By Anna Mulrine Staff writer

Today it’s “relatively easy to remotely take over and reprogram” self-driving cars and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), DARPA officials say. It’s easy to hack into the new cars people actually drive, too. Roughly half of the cars stolen in London last year, for example – that’s 42,000 – were heisted without the use of physical force.

Scientists working on High-Assurance Cyber Military Systems, or HACMS (the Pentagon pronounces it “hack’ems”), have the lofty goal of rendering remote cyber-attacks ineffective.

As smart cars become more complex, “there’s a lot more opportunity to attack them,” notes Mike Franusich, a principal engineer on the program. The key, DARPA officials say, is building IT systems that can’t be hacked in the first place.

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Mark Sappenfield
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