The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory’s (Dstl) Centre for Defence Enterprise (CDE) is looking for innovative ideas to automate cyber defence responses.

The Automating Cyber Defence Responses competition is looking for proof-of-concept research proposals for tools and techniques that support the planning and carrying out of automated responses to threats to Ministry of Defence systems. An automated cyber defence response includes collecting information, identifying the attack, analysing potential courses of action and then responding.

The total funding available for this competition is £2 million, to be split over two phases each worth £1 million. The phase 1 competition will be launched at a CDE Innovation Network event in London on 9 September, while phase 2 funding will then be awarded on a per-project basis to the most successful outputs of phase 1 funded projects.

The Innovation Network event is open to industry and academia who wish to find out more about the Automating Cyber Defence Responses competition, and to those who wish to network with technical and military experts and discuss ideas which could benefit the UK’s defence and security.

Jim Pennycook, Head of Operations at CDE, said: “Our Armed Forces rely on cyberspace to conduct successful operations and the £2 million funding available for this competition demonstrates MOD’s commitment to cyber defence. Automated responses are an essential part of cyber defence processes and this funding will allow us to support a range of innovative proposals in this area.”