[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 250 (Monday, December 30, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 79411-79412]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-31072]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Office of the Secretary


Announcement of Competition Under the America COMPETES Act

AGENCY: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), DoD.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: DARPA announces the Cyber Grand Challenge (CGC), a prize 
competition under 15 U.S.C. 3719, the America COMPETES Act. The CGC 
will utilize a series of competition events to test the abilities of 
fully automated cyber defense systems. The CGC seeks to engender a new 
generation of autonomous cyber defense capabilities that combine the 
speed and scale of automation with reasoning abilities exceeding those 
of human experts.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: All questions regarding the 
competition may be sent to [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: DARPA recommends that all parties interested 
in participating in the CGC read the latest CGC Rules document posted 
on the CGC Web site (www.darpa.mil/cybergrandchallenge) for a full 
description of CGC events.
    Subject of the competition. The DoD maintains information systems 
using a software technology base comprised of Commercial Off The Shelf 
(COTS) operating systems and applications. This COTS technology base is 
common to the DoD, industry, and the Defense Industrial Base, and the 
continual discovery of potential vulnerabilities in this software base 
has led to a constant cycle of intrusion, compromise discovery, patch 
formulation, patch deployment and recovery. At the present time this 
defensive cycle is performed by highly trained software analysts; it is 
the role of these analysts to reason about the function of software, 
identify novel threats and remove them. Manual analysis of code and 
threats is an artisan process, often requiring skilled analysts to 
spend weeks or months analyzing a problem. The size of the technology 
base also contributes to the difficulty of manually discovering 
vulnerabilities. At the present time, automated program analysis 
capabilities are able to assist the work of human software analysts. In 
the Cyber Grand Challenge, competitors will improve and combine these 
semi-automated technologies into unmanned Cyber Reasoning Systems that 
can autonomously reason about novel program flaws, prove the existence 
of flaws in networked applications, and formulate effective defenses. 
The performance of these automated systems will be evaluated through 
head-to-head tournament style competition. The CGC will draw widespread 
attention to the technology issues associated with autonomous software 
comprehension and motivate entrants to overcome technical challenges to 
realize truly effective autonomous cyber defense. This competition will 
challenge the most capable and innovative companies, institutions, and 
entrepreneurs to produce breakthroughs in capability and performance. 
Eligible parties may enter

[[Page 79412]]

the CGC on the Proposal Track through receiving an award under DARPA's 
CGC Automated Cyber Reasoning Broad Agency Announcement, or through 
open entry on the Open Track.
    Eligibility for Competition Participation. To be eligible to 
participate in the CGC, an individual or entity shall have--
    (1) registered to participate in the competition in accordance with 
the CGC Rules document published at www.darpa.mil/cybergrandchallenge; 
and,
    (2) complied with all the requirements outlined in the CGC Rules 
document published at www.darpa.mil/cybergrandchallenge.
    Competition Registration. There is no fee for entry. Application 
materials are available on the Cyber Grand Challenge Web site 
(www.darpa.mil/cybergrandchallenge) and must be submitted in accordance 
with the instructions outlined in the CGC Rules. The application 
procedure is a two-step process consisting of an initial application 
and an extended application. Application materials received after the 
deadlines specified on the CGC Web site will be disposed of in a secure 
manner. Application materials will not be returned. Incomplete 
applications will not be accepted.
    Winner Selection. Scoring at Cyber Grand Challenge events will 
reflect successful cyber reasoning. Based on finalized scoring at the 
CGC Qualifying Event (CQE), DARPA will issue invitations to finalists. 
Open Track teams invited to the CGC Final Event (CFE) will receive a 
cash prize. Based on finalized scoring at the CFE, DARPA will determine 
1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners to receive prizes.
    Prize Amounts. DARPA anticipates prizes in the following amounts:
 CQE: $750,000
 CFE: 1st place: $2,000,000; 2nd place: $1,000,000; 3rd place: 
$750,000

    Dated: December 23, 2013.
Aaron Siegel,
Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.
[FR Doc. 2013-31072 Filed 12-27-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 5001-06-P