The Cyber Grand Challenge was created by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) to advance the state of security defense by entrants creating a system that autonomously hacked and patched unknown software. The Smithsonian Institute recently acknowledged the competition and event with a display at the Lemelson Center for the study of invention and innovation. GrammaTech and University of Virginia placed second in the event, with the strongest cyber defense score among all the competitors.
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GrammaTech and the University of Virginia formed team TechX to compete in the Cyber Grand Challenge with their robot, Xandra. On August 4, 2016, DEF CON 24 hosted the world’s first all-machine hacking tournament. Seven systems battled against each other using advanced autonomous technologies including: reverse engineering unknown binary software, authoring new IDS (intrusion detection system) signatures, probing the security of opponent software, and re-mixing defended services with machine-generated patches and defenses. GrammaTech’s team TECHx earned 2nd prize, securing a $1M prize.
The Smithsonian Lemelson Center for the study of invention and innovation recently honored the contest with a display. GrammaTech’s CTO and team TechX lead, David Melski, recently visited the display in Washington, D.C.
GrammaTech CTO David Melski at the CGC display at Smithsonian Lemelson Center for the study of invention and innovation