Mission Secure Inc. (MSi), a next-generation cyber defense technology and solutions provider announced the beta release of its Secure Sentinel product platform and Cyber AssessmentMethodology for early adopters in defense, energy and transportation. The announcement addresses Senator Edward J. Markey’s report, Tracking & Hacking: Security & Privacy Gaps Put American Drivers at Risk.
Over the last year MSi developed the Secure Sentinel platform, based on over four years of R&D by the University of Virginia with the Department of Defense. MSi’s Secure Sentinel is the only solution that monitors, detects, informs and corrects against insider, supply chain interdiction and advance persistent cyber attacks. MSi’s platform can be deployed at low cost to enhance protections of most cyber physical systems, especially legacy systems, in defense, energy and transportation. The technology proved effective in overcoming cyber attacks in pilot studies involving autonomous air and ground vehicles.
As vehicles increasingly rely on automation, software, communication and technology enhancements to run core functions, the systems pose a safety risk when under cyber attack. Sen. Markey’s report highlights the fact that nearly 100 percent of vehicles on the market were unable to monitor, detect and report on hacking incidents and only two of the sixteen manufacturers described credible means of responding to a cyber attack in real time. MSi’s Secure Sentinel hardware-based solution provides the ability to monitor critical car systems, detect a cyber attack, immediately inform the driver and auto manufacturer, and most importantly to take corrective action in real-time automatically and/or guide the driver to the appropriate corrective action given the circumstances.
A recent 2014 pilot project for autonomous aerial vehicles demonstrated the Secure Sentinel’s capability to detect cyber attacks and take automated corrective action when navigation systems were compromised. Flight plans were restored and/or the plane returned to safety under pilot control.
MSi’s current pilot project with the University of Virginia for autonomous ground vehicles has shown early success for protecting and correcting key functions of an automobile when under attack, including collision avoidance, acceleration and braking.
This pilot, in conjunction with Perrone Robotics (PRI), simulates realistic cyber attack scenarios against onboard control systems using a robust autonomous ground vehicle platform from PRI originally fielded for the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge (“Tommy Jr.”). The goal of the pilot is to demonstrate how to identify vehicle safety threats malicious cyber attackers could useto easily compromise the vehicle’s key control systems and more importantly how these attacks could be detected and thwarted using MSi’s Secure Sentinel platform.
“For the fourteen of sixteen auto manufacturers who informed Senator Markey’s team of their inability to describe capabilities to diagnose or meaningfully respond to an infiltration in real time, MSi has a solution. For the two who indicated they havea fail-safe mode or remote controlled slow down, we would like to help enhance it,” said David Drescher, CEO of Mission Secure. “With its cost effective price point, there is no reason why MSi’s solution should not be on every car in America today, closing the security gaps that have put American drivers at risk.”
MSi’s Secure Sentinel platform and Cyber Assessment Methodology apply to far more than automobiles and can be applied to monitor, detect, inform and correct most physical systems in any industry. The company is focused on helping improve cyber defenses for enhanced security in the defense, energy and transportation sectors.
