Arthur McMiler
RTX’s BBN Technologies has secured a contract to develop cybersecurity test and evaluation methods for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Intelligent Generation of Tools for Security, or INGOTS, program. DARPA wants advanced INGOTS approaches on identifying and mitigating complex vulnerabilities to cyberattacks, RTX said Tuesday, without disclosing the contract’s value.
The company also noted that the agency’s program seeks faster and more effective cybersecurity interventions through the automated modeling and analysis of exploit chains. INGOTS applications are expected to extend across business, government and military sectors, as well as cover personal use.
Virtual and Physical BBN Testbed
To pursue DARPA’s goal, BBN will deploy its testbed architecture in a platform it calls STALAGMITE, short for System Test of Android at Large-scale Accelerating Generation and Modeling for INGOTS Test and Evaluation. The system will be designed to provide accurate real-world simulations in virtual and physical test environments, as well as offer proactive threat responses and security research.
“Effectively countering exploit chains requires more than just identifying individual vulnerabilities. It demands a system that can replicate real-world attack scenarios and anticipate potential risks before they are exploited,” said Jack Dietz, BBN’s principal investigator. STALAGMITE addresses the constraints on cost, time, efficiency and scalability of current manual testing and evaluation methods, the company executive also noted.
DARPA issued an INGOTS contract presolicitation in July 2024, with an anticipated multiple awards. In March, Leidos announced that it received an $8.8 million DARPA contract to support the INGOTS program through its machine learning tools and large language models to address vulnerability chains.
