AI institute for agent-based cyber threat intelligence and operation

Active Cooperative Agreement Awarded Last action

Award ID
2229876
Recipient
Awarding agency
Obligated
$17,944,201

Award facts

Completion date 68% complete
Funding agency
Division of Computer and Network Systems National Science Foundation
Place of performance
Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA

Award details come from USAspending.gov.

Description

As the agency reported it.

Abstract
Computer systems are increasingly central to national infrastructure in the financial, medical, manufacturing, defense, and other domains. This infrastructure is at risk from sophisticated cyber-adversaries backed by powerful nation-states, whose capabilities rapidly evolve, demanding equally rapid responses. This calls for advances in artificial intelligence and autonomous reasoning that are tightly integrated with advanced security techniques to identify and correct vulnerabilities, detect threats and attribute them to adversaries, and mitigate and recover from attacks. The action institute will develop novel approaches that leverage artificial intelligence?informed by and working with experts in security operations?to perform security tasks rapidly and at scale, anticipating the moves of an adversary and taking corrective actions to protect the security of computer networks as well as people?s safety. The institute will function as a nexus for the AI and cybersecurity communities, and its research efforts will be complemented by innovation in education from k-12 to postdoctoral students, the development of new tools for workforce development, and the creation of new opportunities for collaboration among the institute?s organizations and with external industry partners. The AI institute will initiate a revolutionary approach to cybersecurity, in which AI-enabled intelligent security agents cooperate with humans across the cyber-defense life cycle to jointly improve the security posture of complex computer systems over time. Intelligent security agents will follow a new paradigm of continuous, lifelong learning both autonomously and in collaboration with human experts, supported by a shared knowledge bank and an integrated AI stack that provides novel fundamental primitives for (1) reasoning and learning that incorporates domain knowledge, (2) human-agent interaction, (3) multi-agent collaboration, and (4) strategic gaming and tactical planning. Over time, these intelligent security agents will improve their domain knowledge, becoming increasingly robust and effective in the face of changes in the adversaries? Modes of operation, composing defense strategies and tactical plans in the presence of uncertainty, collaborating with each other and with humans for mutually complementary teaming, and adapting to unfamiliar and novel attacks. The department of homeland security and IBM are partnering with NSF to provide funding for this institute. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

Transactions

Action Obligated Date
Amendment $3,000,000
Amendment $0
Amendment $1,000,000
Amendment $3,666,000
Amendment $1,999,991
Amendment $3,941,950
Amendment $0
Amendment $4,336,260
Original award $0

Subawards

Subrecipient Amount Awarded
Georgia TECH Research Corp Agents operate both individually and collaboratively. We propose to develop a multi-agent collaboration framework, enabled by research in the following aspects.… $381,313
University Of Washington The Artificial Cyber Threat Intelligence and OperatioN (ACTION) Institute will develop novel foundational artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to… $300,005
University Of Illinois The proposed research will revolutionize the process of securing and defending complex, large-scale systems, driven by new foundational AI concepts, models, and… $123,439
The University Of Chicago 1. Thrust SEC-2: Intelligent Agents for Detection - Handling Threat Evolution and Evasion. Over the past several years, Feamster has established himself as a… $158,503
University Of Illinois The proposed research will revolutionize the process of securing and defending complex, large-scale systems, driven by new foundational AI concepts, models, and… $213,829
Georgia TECH Research Corp Agents operate both individually and collaboratively. We propose to develop a multi-agent collaboration framework, enabled by research in the following aspects.… $313,809
Norfolk State University For the ACTION project, NSU will participate in and contribute to Use-Inspired Research primarily in Thrust SEC-1: Intelligent Agents for Threat/Vulnerability… $106,617
Purdue University The artificial cyber threat intelligence and operation (action) institute will develop novel foundational artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to… $561,868
Rutgers, The State University Challenge: Current approaches lack a systematic model to assess the aggregate defense capability of a network of agents Key contribution: A novel multi-agent… $166,277
Rector & Visitors Of The University Of Virginia ACTION Institute University of Virginia - Statement of Work The work done by the University of Virginia, led by PI David Evans, for the ACTION Institute will be… $203,217
Georgia TECH Research Corp Agents operate both individually and collaboratively. We propose to develop a multi-agent collaboration framework, enabled by research in the following aspects.… $299,378
University Of Illinois The proposed research will revolutionize the process of securing and defending complex, large-scale systems, driven by new foundational AI concepts, models, and… $114,456
Norfolk State University For the ACTION project, NSU will participate in and contribute to Use-Inspired Research primarily in Thrust SEC-1: Intelligent Agents for Threat/Vulnerability… $181,688
Purdue University The Artificial Cyber Threat Intelligence and OperatioN (ACTION) Institute will develop novel foundational artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to… $582,194
Rector & Visitors Of The University Of Virginia ACTION Institute University of Virginia - Statement of Work The work done by the University of Virginia, led by PI David Evans, for the ACTION Institute will be… $143,663
Rutgers, The State University Challenge: Current approaches lack a systematic model to assess the aggregate defense capability of a network of agents Key contribution: A novel multi-agent… $131,064
University Of Illinois Bo LI: PI Li will design and develop knowledge-enabled learning+reasoning machine learning pipelines for different cybersecurity systems to enhance their… $215,558
Norfolk State University For the ACTION project, NSU will participate in and contribute to Use-Inspired Research primarily in Thrust SEC-1: Intelligent Agents for Threat/Vulnerability… $185,250
The University Of Chicago 1. Thrust SEC-2: Intelligent Agents for Detection - Handling Threat Evolution and Evasion. Over the past several years, Feamster has established himself as a… $214,268
University Of Washington The Artificial Cyber Threat Intelligence and OperatioN (ACTION) Institute will develop novel foundational artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to… $520,208
Show all 20

Quick answers

Who received award 2229876?

2229876 was awarded to University Of California, Santa Barbara by Division of Information and Intelligent Systems (National Science Foundation) on June 1, 2023.

How much is award 2229876 worth?

$17,944,201 has been obligated on 2229876.

Which agency awarded 2229876?

Division of Information and Intelligent Systems (National Science Foundation) awarded 2229876, with funding from Division of Computer and Network Systems (National Science Foundation).

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