Navy Looks to Enlist Industry in All-Hands Cybersecurity Mission

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — If the U.S. Navy hopes to thwart cyber attackers, the sea service will need industry’s help. Capt. Ann Casey intends to garner as much of this outside help as possible.

“We want the ability to do a more advanced hunt,” Casey said May 6 during an interview at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space conference.

As director of information and capability at the Fort Meade, Maryland-based
Fleet Cyber Command, Casey intends to find experts attending the show that
would help “look inside our own networks at a more advanced level than we
currently do.”

Industry hopefully can provide assistance in fostering advances in
artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), Casey said.

The processes involve “getting a machine to do some computations
that can assist users,” Casey said. “Our sensors get a large amount of data. We
want machines to parse that data and tell us what’s important.”

“We want the ability to do a more advanced hunt.”

Capt. Ann Casey
director of information and capability, Fleet Cyber Command

Casey’s role is an integral part of a U.S. Defense Department-wide
effort, spearheaded by the newly created Joint Artificial Information Center. The
effort entails seeking protections for all the Navy’s cyberspace operations,
including communications systems. The process involves a bit more than merely
stopping hackers, she said.

“If you’re using McAfee or Symantec [on a personal computer], you
don’t care who’s hacking you — you just want it to stop,” Casey said.

The Navy, on the other hand, cannot take such a simplistic
approach.

“We care about tactics, techniques and procedures — in other
words, who’s hacking us,” Casey said. “We’re looking for ways in the future to
prevent it.”

Casey’s shop also is part of the effort to conduct offensive cyber
operations, should it be ordered to do so.

“The best dialogue I
can have would be if somebody from industry is presenting a new approach,
particularly in cybersecurity,” Casey said. “After having a conversation, I
would go back and engage our entire community. On an as-needed basis, we could
invite the contractor to come back and speak to us — sometimes in a classified
arena.”