The future of cybersecurity innovation

A glimpse into the future of defending against threats to cybersecurity featuring a live demo by DARPA's Plan X team of its cyber threat visualization system.

The US intelligence community has ranked cyberattacks as the No. 1 threat to national security – more than terrorist groups or weapons of mass destruction. But the military's cyberwarriors fight these battles hunkered over computers, working with strings of code – a laborious process that requires advanced engineering skills. 

That's why the Pentagon's advanced research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is building a system to give the military instantaneous knowledge of network attacks by displaying them in real-time with rich graphics and 3-D visualizations.

Frank Pound, manager of the program, will join Passcode Deputy Editor Sara Sorcher to give a demonstration of the in-progress system called Plan X. He'll discuss how he's building an "app store" to streamline cyber operations– which could fundamentally shift the way the military operates on the virtual battlefield. What will DARPA's version of the Internet actually look like? How could technology like this help the military and the private sector in the future?

With one of DARPA’s most cutting-edge projects in mind, Passcode will then host a conversation about the broader themes of innovation in cybersecurity.

You can follow the conversation on Twitter via the hashtag “#PlanX.” You can follow all of the panelists and speakers through this Twitter list.

To get the inside scoop on Plan X, Read Sorcher’s longform exclusive here. 

Sign up to get all the latest updates from Passcode in our newsletter, released Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, here. 

Format:

• Demonstration of DARPA's Plan X cyber threat visualization system
  • Speaker: Plan X Program Director Frank Pound
  • Introduction: Sara Sorcher, Deputy Editor, Passcode 

• Keynote Interview
  • Dan Kaufman, Director, Information Innovation Office, DARPA
  • Chuck Romine, Director, NIST Information Technology Lab
  • Bill Hill, CISO, MITRE
  • Interviewer: Sara Sorcher, Deputy Editor, Passcode 

• Sponsor Speakers
  • Mike Banic, VP of Marketing, Vectra Networks
  • Anup Ghosh, Founder and CEO, Invincea

Event Details:

Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015

10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

St. Regis Hotel, 16th and K, NW, Washington, D.C.