Reinforcement Learning for Autonomous Resilient Cyber Defense

Future cyber threats include high volumes of sophisticated machine speed cyber-attacks, able to evade and overwhelm traditional cyber defenders. In this talk, we summarise a large body of UK Defence research extending and applying Reinforcement Learning (RL) to automated cyber defence decision making, e.g. deciding at machine speed which action(s) to take when a cyber-attack is detected.

To support this work, we have matured simulators and tools including development of advanced adversaries to improve defender robustness. Promising concepts include two contrasting Multi Agent RL (MARL) approaches and deep RL combined with heterogenous Graph Neural Networks (GNNs).

Demonstration systems include Cyber First Aid, industrial control systems, and autonomous vehicles. We have demonstrated that autonomous cyber defence is feasible on ‘real’ representative networks and plan to increase the number of high-fidelity projects in the next year.

By:
Sara Farmer | Scientist, DSTL
David Foster | Founding Partner
James Short | Principal Systems Engineer, QinetiQ
Dr Andy Harrison FORS | Principal Data Scientist, QinetiQ
Ian Miles | Managing Consultant, Frazer-Nash Consultancy
Matthew Lacey | Senior Consultant, Cambridge Consultants Ltd
Chris Willis | Executive Scientist, BAE Systems
Daniel Harrold | Data Research Scientist, BAE Systems
Chris Parry | Senior Data Scientist, BAE Systems
Gregory Palmer | Senior Principal Research Scientist, BAE Systems
John H | Head of Research, Trustworthy AI
Tom Wilson | Mathematical Consultant, Smith Institute
Ryan Heartfield | CEO / Cofounder, Exalens
Mark Dorn | Director, Cambridge Consultants Ltd
Demian Till | Senior Machine Learning Engineer, Cambridge Consultants Ltd
David Rimmer | AI and Algorithms developer, Cambridge Consultants Ltd
Samuel Bailey | Software Engineer, Cambridge Consultants Ltd
Peter Haubrick | Principal Machine Learning Engineer, Cambridge Consultants Ltd
Jack Stone | Head of AI Engineering, Cambridge Consultants Ltd
Madeline Cheah | Cybersecurity specialist, Cambridge Consultants Ltd
Pedro Marques | Cyber Defence Research Specialist, BT plc.
Alfie Beard | Automated Response Research Manager, BT plc.
Jonathan Francis Roscoe | CTO Data & AI, GSS, BT plc.
Alec Wilson | Senior Data Scientist, BMT
Ryan Menzies | Data Scientist/AI Specialist, BMT
Marco Casassa Mont | Principal Cyber Security Consultant, BMT
Neela Morarji | Principal AI Specialist, BMT
Lisa Gralewski | Principal Data Scientist, BMT
Esin Turkbeyler | AI Lead, BMT

Full Abstract and Presentation Materials:
https://www.blackhat.com/us-24/briefings/schedule/#reinforcement-learning-for-autonomous-resilient-cyber-defense-39308Black HatRead More