DARPA-SN-25-37.pdf

Special Notice Information Innovation Office

Reclaiming Bus-based Systems During Compromise (Red-C) Proposers Day

DARPA-SN-25-37

January 15, 2025

Opportunity Reclaiming Bus-based Systems During Compromise (Red-C) Proposers Day

Event Hybrid Proposers Day

Event Date/Time 01/28/2025 at 08:30 AM Eastern Time (ET)

Event Physical Location Amentum 4121 Wilson Blvd., Suite 200 Arlington, VA 22203

Fee to Attend There is NO fee to attend

Who can Attend This event is open to potential proposers only; not open to the public.

Registration Website https://creative.spa.com/darpa/i2o/red-c/pd/

Registration Deadline 01/23/2025 at 12:00 PM (ET)

Non-U.S. Registration forms Deadline

01/23/2025 at 12:00 PM (ET)

Administrative POC RedC@darpa.mil

DARPA Program Manager Bernard McShea

PROPOSERS DAY

DARPA I2O is sponsoring an unclassified hybrid Proposers Day in support of the anticipated Reclaiming Bus-based Systems During Compromise (Red-C) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA). The purpose of this event is to provide information on the Red-C technical goals and challenges, address questions from potential proposers, and provide an opportunity for potential proposers to consider how their research may align with the Red-C program objectives. Attendance is voluntary and is not required to propose to the Red-C BAA.

https://creative.spa.com/darpa/i2o/red-c/pd/

PROGRAM BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Reclaiming Bus-based Systems During Compromise (Red-C) will construct a neighborhood watch for compute components connected via communication highways, known as buses. Red-C will enable on-system recovery from active cyber-attacks on bus-based systems by turning bus components into forensic sensors with introspection and peer component monitoring.

Many of the Department of Defense’s (DoD) critical systems (e.g., vehicles which typically have engine control modules, power steering modules, etc. and personal computers which typically have memory controllers, graphic processing units, disk controllers, etc.) are bus-based systems of systems with implicitly trusted modular components. Bus-based systems are currently vulnerable to cascading implicit trust attacks (e.g., any door or window gains access to the whole house) and system recovery is hindered by the lack of available forensic information (e.g., we know files have been corrupted, but not their original content).

Red-C envisions a resilient, distributed approach to on-system detection and repair of cyber-attacks implemented on current bus-based hardware via firmware updates – ending the lack of state data and the cascading implicit trust flaw in modern buses. Red-C seeks to explore algorithms to construct self-healing systems, by retrofitting firmware for individual components on a bus to function as forensic sensors that collectively monitor peers to detect, repair, and inoculate on-system during a cyber-attack.

Red-C’s approach to creating self-healing systems has two research focuses: Instrumentation and Response. First, Instrumentation adds a new level of resolution and aggregation to bus monitoring to provide more comprehensive sensing of system behavior. Second, cooperative Responses will be locally generated via a distributed approach to enable timely mitigation, remediation, and inoculation of an attack.

Modern buses provide super-highways, which are crossed multiple times by processes on a system leaving behind ever-growing forensic footprints. Recently, DARPA performers instrumented components on a seedling effort, creating a dataset that detected 99% of ransomware. Moreover, the data production for that dataset only added 6% additional component computational overhead. Combining the seedling results with prior on-system recovery, such as ransomware remediation of solid-state drives that showed recovery of files for three days, is an indication of the impact the Red-C program will explore.

The collective effect is that Red-C imposes a cost to the attacker for exposing vulnerabilities to the defender, thus penalizing attempts to learn.

Red-C will focus on Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) and Compute Express Link (CXL) buses, addressing the following fundamental research challenges: a) develop fine-resolution sensing via instrumenting a set of critical components to monitor each other cooperatively, leading to powerful forensic capabilities not available today; b) develop distributed algorithms for components to act independently in a range of tasks from attack detection to maximal recovery; and c) demonstrate online bus reclaiming and firmware retrofitting, thus ending the cascading implicit trust flaws in modern buses.

All Red-C research must address the overarching technical challenges of creating robust distributed algorithms with scarce availability of computation and limited bus bandwidth, while contending with the attacker(s) in the defined system during all stages.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

The Red-C hybrid Proposers Day will be held on January 28, 2025, from 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM (ET) physically at the Amentum, 4121 Wilson Blvd., Suite 200, Arlington VA 22203 and virtually via Microsoft Teams. No more than three representatives per organization unit, and five people per overall organization, may attend this Proposers Day. Registrants are strongly encouraged to coordinate attendance internally within their organizations prior to registration.

IN-PERSON REGISTRATION

In-person registration must be completed no later than 01/23/2025 12:00 PM ET. Registration is on a first come first serve basis with a limit of 136 participants. Any United States (U.S.) citizen seeking to attend the Proposers Day in-person will be required to present a valid, Government-issued photo identification at the registration table prior to admittance into the event.

Late in-person registrations may be admitted after all pre-registered attendees are admitted, and only if room capacity allows. Please note, in-person check-in begins at 08:30 AM ET; late in-person registration requires significant coordination and may not be complete in time to gain physical entrance into the Proposers Day event.

VIRTUAL REGISTRATION

Virtual registration must be completed no later than January 23, 2025, 12:00 PM ET. All virtual attendees are required to log in using their first and last name. Participants calling in must call from the number provided during registration.

Any non-U.S. citizen must complete and submit one of the following:

• DARPA Form 60; or

• Foreign government personnel must submit an Official Visit Request completed by their respective

Embassy based in Washington, DC.

All non-U.S. forms must be submitted no later than January 23, 2025, 12:00 PM ET. Form 60 submission instructions are provided on the registration website and in the registration confirmation email. Foreign government personnel should contact their respective Embassy staff for assistance in submitting the Official Visit Request. All non-U.S. personnel must present a valid passport or Permanent Resident Card.

NOTE: this Special Notice does not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals. This notice is issued solely for information and program planning purposes and is not a Request for Information (RFI). Since this is not an RFI, no submissions against this notice will be accepted by DARPA. DARPA will not provide reimbursement for costs incurred to participate in this Proposers Day. Interested parties to this notice are cautioned that nothing herein obligates DARPA to issue a solicitation.

EVENT FORMAT

The Red-C Proposers Day will include overview presentations by the DARPA Program Manager, Mr.

Bernard McShea, and DARPA support offices, such as the Contracts Management Office and Security and Intelligence Directorate. The event will conclude with a Question & Answer (Q&A) session.

Following the Proposers Day, DARPA anticipates posting additional information regarding the Red-C program (e.g., DARPA materials presented at the Proposers Day and a Q&A document) to http://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/opportunities.

http://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/opportunities

ATTENDEE TEAMING

DARPA highly encourages teaming prior to proposal submission. To facilitate introductions between potential teaming partners, DARPA will provide resources as outlined below.

1. DARPA will provide a teaming web page on the Proposers Day registration site. Attendees are encouraged to prepare one single slide that contains their contact information (name, organization, email, telephone number, mailing address, and, if applicable, organization website), a brief description of their technical competencies, and, if applicable, their desired expertise from other teams/organizations. Please note that DARPA-SN-25-26 stated that "A teaming slide template will be available for download from the registration page. DARPA will not be providing a template, please create your own slide format, making sure to address all the information items stated in DARPA-SN-25-26, Bullet #1. Teaming slides are not required for Proposers Day attendance. All teaming slide submissions must be emailed to RedC@darpa.mil no later than 12:00 p.m. on January 23, 2025 for inclusion on the teaming page.

2. Proposers Day participants who attend in-person, may choose to brief their organization’s teaming slide orally for two minutes to the event attendees. Two-minute timeslots will be available on a first come first serve basis, should you choose this option. You must communicate your organization’s intent to brief orally in the email submission of your slide. Each organization will only be permitted to brief once during the event and will be limited to no more than two minutes.

Submissions that include Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), company proprietary information, information regarding any other DARPA-funded work, or more than one slide will not be accepted.

Communications, networking, and team formation are the sole responsibility of the participants. Neither DARPA nor the DoD endorses the information and organizations contained on teaming profiles, nor does DARPA or DoD exercise any responsibility for improper dissemination of the teaming profiles.

To further assist those wanting to establish collaborative teaming efforts and business relationships, potential proposers may indicate on the registration website that they authorize their contact information to be shared among meeting participants. For persons or organizations new to DARPA, this may be of use in connecting with potential partners. The Red-C team anticipates potential proposers will have the opportunity to conduct informal teaming discussions in-person and virtually during and after the event.

The Red-C team may provide informal communication channels to assist in teaming discussions during and after the event. Potential proposers are strongly encouraged not to rely solely on this event or potential government communication channels to form teaming relationships.

DARPACONNECT

DARPAConnect offers free resources to potential performers to help them navigate DARPA, including “Understanding DARPA Award Vehicles and Solicitations,” “Making the Most of Proposers Days,” and “Tips for DARPA Proposal Success.” Join DARPAConnect at www.DARPAConnect.us to leverage on-demand learning and networking resources.

mailto:RedC@darpa.mil http://www.darpaconnect.us/

NOTE: This Special Notice does not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals. This notice is issued solely for information and program planning purposes and is not a Request for Information (RFI). Since this is not an RFI, no submissions against this notice will be accepted by DARPA. Interested parties to this notice are cautioned that nothing herein obligates DARPA to issue a solicitation.

NO CLASSIFED INFORMATION SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN ANY COMMUNICATIONS IN

RESPONSE TO THIS SPECIAL NOTICE.