Peraton, a leader in applied artificial intelligence for national security, has been awarded the GHOSTCREW contract supporting U.S. Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER). In collaboration with the Cyber Fusion Innovation Center (CFIC), the Army Cyber Technology and Innovation Center (ArCTIC), and ARCYBER, GHOSTCREW aims to accelerate experiential learning for red team and penetration testing operators through a next-generation AI-assisted platform.
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Peraton’s proposed solution embeds AI directly into the operator’s workflow. Unlike standalone AI tools that require users to supply relevant data, this approach allows the AI to observe user activity and provide real-time, contextual decision support, including recommendations for what tools to use, how to use them, and high-level operational strategies. By accumulating knowledge from operator behavior and trusted knowledge sources, the platform builds a rich, evolving database that supports future operations with enhanced speed and precision.

“The GHOSTCREW project embodies what can be done today in human machine teaming,” said Todd Borkey, chief technology officer, Peraton. “Embedding advanced AI directly into cyber operator workflows presents a massive gain in how we train, fight, and defend.”

Peraton continues to push the boundaries of human-AI collaboration and strengthen digital resilience through trusted, intelligent systems that deliver insights at the speed of mission. As adversaries grow more sophisticated, Peraton will help ARCYBER redefine how red teams learn and operate—shortening the path from training to readiness while ensuring AI remains a success multiplier for national security.

• Peraton Labs has secured nearly $100 million dollars in contract awards for research, development, engineering, and advanced technology since May.
  
• The awards support a range of customer missions across defense and national security.

The awards leverage industry-leading capability and deep technical expertise across AI and autonomous systems, cyber operations and defense, networking, electronic warfare, and C5ISR (Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance). In addition to research and development in multidomain cyber deception, resilience, and defense, the awards include advancements in intelligent predictive networking—leveraging Lab’s innovations in tactical communications and mobile networking—and counter unmanned aerial systems (UAS)—leveraging Labs’ expertise in targeted kinetic defense against UAS-launched threats.

“We are dedicated to delivering innovative and high-value solutions in support of our customers’ missions of consequence,” said Chris Valentino, previously chief innovation officer at Peraton. “By leveraging cutting-edge technology and a commitment to excellence, we transform challenges into opportunities, ensuring our solutions can operate at-scale, in real-world environments.”

The Labs is Peraton’s hub of innovation with a proven track record in maturing and delivering innovative solutions from research, development, and experimentation through implementation, testing, evaluation, integration, validation, and fielding. The sector delivers advanced, mission-specific technology capabilities across a broad range of national security, civil space, and intelligence community customers.

 

• Peraton will design, develop, test, and evaluate novel methods to exploit attackers’ cognitive limitations and biases, waste attackers’ time and effort, and disrupt early and late-stage attacks.
• The company’s CyberVAN™ solution will serve as the experimentation and evaluation testbed across the program.

 
RESTON, Va. — Feb. 26, 2024 — Peraton has been awarded a competitive contract from the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) under its Reimagining Security with Cyberpsychology-Informed Network Defenses (ReSCIND) program. The company will design, develop, test, and evaluate methods that assess the attackers’ decision-making biases and cognitive vulnerabilities and use this knowledge to deploy novel, cyberpsychology-driven defenses that reduce the effectiveness of both early and late stage cyberattacks.

“Traditional cyber defense is limited by an asymmetry where attackers take advantage of human limitations and biases,” said Chris Valentino, chief innovation officer, Strategic Innovation Group, Peraton. “We are excited to deploy novel solutions to rebalance this asymmetry by exploiting attackers’ weaknesses and disrupting the cyber kill chain.”

CyberVAN, Peraton’s high-fidelity cyber range, will be used as the experimentation and evaluation testbed for the ReSCIND program, supporting testing, assessment, and validation of new cyberpsychology-based defenses. As a mature cyber proving ground, CyberVAN provides flexible scenario development, emulation-based testing and evaluation, comprehensive data collection, in-depth performance analysis, and operational and impact metrics.

• Peraton has signed an agreement with the Purdue Applied Research Institute (PARI) to move and expand its West Lafayette Research and Innovation Center.
• PARI serves as a hub for industry-university collaborations that advance development and transition technology into innovative solutions and services.
• Peraton’s West Lafayette Research and Innovation Center accelerates work addressing national security challenges by providing access to a strong local talent pool of engineers and researchers and fostering collaboration with Purdue University.

RESTON, Va. — January 22, 2023 — Peraton has signed an agreement to license space at the Purdue Applied Research Institute (PARI) for its West Lafayette Research and Innovation Center. Peraton will move from its current location in West Lafayette to the new office as it continues to expand national security research, address growing mission needs, and leverage local talent. PARI works to extend the reach and impact of Purdue University and provides state-of-the-art facilities and infrastructure for applied research, development, and technology transition.

Peraton’s West Lafayette Research and Innovation Center is part of the Peraton Strategic Innovation Group (SIG), led by Chris Valentino, chief innovation officer. The center conducts applied research and development (R&D) in cyber, networking,  operations, and quantum technologies ,with deep expertise in cyber defense, network virtualization, critical infrastructure protection, exploration and assessment of emerging cyber threats, and networking technologies and operations from architecture and protocols to network control and service management.

Peraton’s SIG provides thought leadership, creates differentiation, and connects value streams from basic and applied R&D to innovative solutions that meet its customers’ mission needs. “We are excited to expand our presence in the West Lafayette area and build on our long-standing relationship with Purdue,“ said Chris Valentino. “Leveraging the strong local talent pool and our connections with Purdue University enables us to meet expanding opportunities for mission-critical R&D and accelerate the pace and breadth of our work addressing national security challenges.”

PARI is a nonprofit entity that works to harness Purdue University’s deep research strengths and top-ranked academic programs in engineering, agriculture, science, and technology to improve national security, global development, infrastructure solutions, and critical technology development and fielding. Through applied research and program personnel, state-of-the-art facilities and infrastructure, PARI significantly enhances the translation of discoveries into innovative solutions and services for mission-oriented government, industry, NGO and foundation partners.

“A strong community of innovators and problems solvers is part of the PARI DNA,” said Kevin Massey, PARI’s Chief Operations Officer. “It is exciting to have a nationally recognized leader in research such as Peraton working side by side with PARI staff in a PARI facility. It makes us both stronger through daily collaboration and sharing of ideas. We look forward to growing this partnership and jointly solving some of the nation’s most pressing problems.”

• Peraton Labs will mature, adapt, and qualify its 1553 Bus Defender™ product for potential future integration and flight testing on the MQ-8C Fire Scout.
• The Bus Defender devices will identify, prevent, and mitigate unauthorized access and cyberattacks on MQ-8C Fire Scout 1553 data bus devices.
• Peraton Labs’ Bus Defender product line provides lifecycle cyber survivability for platforms using the MIL-STD-1553 data bus.

​Peraton Labs was awarded a $9.2 million contract for engineering, development, production, testing, and evaluation of 1553 data bus cybersecurity Intrusion Detection/Intrusion Prevention System (IDS/IPS) devices for the MQ-8C Fire Scout Unmanned Air System (UAS). On this contract, Peraton Labs will tailor and mature its 1553 Bus Defender solution to meet integration requirements and qualification testing for the MQ-8C Fire Scout. Peraton Labs will also deliver two fully qualified IDS/IPS prototype kits.

​The MQ-8C Fire Scout provides real-time intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), including line-of-sight tactical reconnaissance, classification, targeting and laser designation, and communications relay. Like many fielded warfighting platforms, it utilizes the MIL-STD-1553 bus. The Bus Defender solution will provide the 1553 data bus with formidable cybersecurity defenses, protecting the MQ-8C Fire Scout from unauthorized access and cyberattacks launched or propagated over the data bus.

​“Peraton Labs’ 1553 Bus Defender product line provides lifecycle cyber survivability for platforms and warfighting systems using the 1553 data bus,” according to Chris Valentino, Chief Strategy Officer and interim president, Peraton Labs. “We are excited to mature, qualify, and deliver our 1553 Bus Defender solution, which will prevent and mitigate 1553-based cyberattacks on the MQ-8C Fire Scout and enable it to meet its critical mission.”

NAVAIR Public Release 2023-461 Distribution Statement A – “Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited."

The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.

• ​Machine learning-based technology will enable ground vehicles, ships, drone swarms, and robotic systems to adjust the way they operate to events not envisioned at design time.
• Adaptive Control with AI solution leverages sensors and AI to provide assistance to the system’s operator, whether a human operator or an autonomous controller.

Peraton Labs has been awarded a DARPA contract to develop machine learning-based technology to enable ground vehicles, ships, drone swarms, robotic systems, and other long-lived physical systems to adapt to unexpected events. Under DARPA’s Learning Introspective Control program, the Peraton Labs team will develop and evaluate capability to update the system control algorithm in real time and provide guidance to the system’s human operator or autonomous controller.

Military systems are designed to operate over a wide range of environments; nonetheless, over lengthy service durations, unexpected conditions arise which cause systems to operate out of their design limits. Currently the burden is on the operator – human or autonomous – to maintain effective and safe control of systems operating in unusual conditions due to damage, environmental extremes, and other unanticipated situations.

“Peraton Labs will research, design, implement, and test a solution called Adaptive Control with AI (ACAI) to assist operators, human or machine, in maintaining control of systems in adverse situations,” said Petros Mouchtaris, PhD., president of Peraton Labs. “We are excited to develop and deliver real-time adaptive control technology that provides military platforms with substantial advantages in speed, agility, and responsiveness for operations in dynamic theater environments.” 
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ACAI leverages data from on-board sensors and applies a sophisticated combination of machine learning, constrained optimization, and a robust optimal control framework to select optimal controls based on the current system state and environmental conditions. ACAI’s intelligent control algorithm coordinates between performance and safety to provide high-performance controls while also maintaining the safety and stability of the system.