A Parsons subsidiary has secured an $11.6 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to automate cyber threat emulation planning and execution for network security assessments.
BlackHorse Solutions will work under the Signature Management using Operational Knowledge and Environments program and support the development of tools to help network security professionals find cybersecurity vulnerabilities during red team exercises, the Department of Defense said Thursday.
Forty-five percent of contract work will occur in Herndon, Virginia, and the remaining 55 percent will be conducted in Utah, Maryland and Colorado through September 2025.
DARPA received 26 offers for the cost-plus-fixed-fee contract via a broad agency announcement and is obligating $663,026 in fiscal 2022 research, development, test, and engineering funds.
SMOKE seeks to prototype data-driven tools designed to enable automated discovery of cyberthreat signatures, or patterns that red team hackers use to evade detection.