Washington – In response to the massive satellite‑modem disruption caused by Russian hackers in 2022, cybersecurity company Atalanta has introduced a new AI‑assisted platform called Argo. The tool incorporates the same technology that Viasat used to secure its satellite communications network after the attack.
How Argo works
Atalanta describes Argo’s core capability as “software understanding,” a blend of advanced mathematics and artificial‑intelligence techniques. This approach allows the system to analyze software and internet‑connected devices for vulnerabilities more comprehensively than traditional methods.
CEO and co‑founder Anjana Rajan told the Associated Press that yesterday’s tools “do not scale for today” and that software understanding will be the path forward for any system of consequence for the United States.
Viasat and other partners
Viasat’s chief of cyber strategy, Nick Saunders, said the collaboration with Atalanta has produced a capability that not only hardens the Viasat network against future attacks but also generates the mathematical proof to back that claim. “We have built over the past year, working with Atalanta … a capability where we can start to develop an understanding of how our systems are more resilient against attacks,” Saunders explained.
Beyond satellite communications, Atalanta’s technology is being applied to the Department of Energy’s Genesis Mission, which seeks to develop autonomous nuclear reactors. Greg Shannon, chief cybersecurity scientist at Idaho National Laboratory, expects the technology to become a standard part of development toolkits within the next decade or two.
Government investment and future outlook
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has funded research in formal methods and software verification for decades, investing “well over $2 billion” according to Shannon. That long‑term investment helped create the demand for a commercial system like Argo.
Emil Michael, the Pentagon’s chief technology officer, highlighted Atalanta’s mathematics at a recent DARPA software conference, calling it the future of military cybersecurity and urging it become the Department of Defense’s “gold standard.”
Broader security concerns
The 2022 Russian hack underscored how cyber attacks can affect everyday life. This summer, U.S. agencies warned that Iranian hackers were targeting water and wastewater systems, among other critical infrastructure. Tools such as Argo aim to give both government and private operators a more robust way to identify and remediate software weaknesses before they can be exploited.
While the technology is still new, industry experts say it represents a significant step toward defending the nation’s critical cyber‑warfare frontiers.
Original reporting: Alexandria, VA News – WTOP News — read the source article.
