Platform security is critically important to maintaining U.S. capabilities in increasingly contested environments. Many older platforms were not designed with cybersecurity in mind, and even newer platforms can suffer from attacks, supply chain issues, or human-introduced vulnerabilities.
“Cyber protection was not necessarily a mission critical capability when some military platforms were first developed. That’s why we designed the Fox Shield™ cyber resilience system to be easily integrated into new and legacy platforms,” said Michael Weber, research scientist at BAE Systems’ FAST Labs™. “Security for our warfighters and their platforms is our top priority, and this solution offers valuable protection in the cyber domain.”
Fox Shield:
Already a mature, deployment-ready technology (Technical Readiness Level 9), the Fox Shield suite has been successfully demonstrated on three unique platforms and deployed on more than 45 platforms. Designed to help platforms detect, respond, and recover from cyberattacks in real time, the Fox Shield suite can be integrated into ground, air, and space vehicles to protect our warfighters and platforms from cyberattacks that are intended to access and degrade mission capabilities.
A highly flexible system with minimal processing, memory and power requirements, the Fox Shield suite is platform-agnostic and can be quickly and easily transitioned to new platforms. The software solution utilizes existing connections into the platform’s Controller Area Network, a technical term for the ubiquitous “central nervous system” found in most ground platforms.
Fox Shield standing guard:
The latest development finds the Fox Shield solution moving “to the edge” as a software or stand-alone hardware option, which means it can potentially stop unwanted radio frequency (RF) waves even before they enter the platform system.
Fox Shield moves the threat detection from waiting and listening inside a system to see if something is wrong, to now standing guard at the door. This significantly improves the time required to make decisions.
From an idea in a virtual suggestion box:
With technology disruption as part of its DNA, raised by fearless innovation and nurtured by a drive to support the warfighter, Fox Shield was born of necessity.
Its origins began in 2016 as an Empower project, BAE Systems’ crowd-sourcing process where employees suggest technical projects for funding and eventual development. Fast-track development was fueled by a few customer-funded opportunities and additional internal funding, and now seven years later, it is deployment-ready.
Ready to take off:
“Additional deployment and more development of features and benefits are expected in 2023. Watch this space for more milestones,” continued Weber. “The sky is the limit. More accurately, all the sky, ground, space, and undersea platforms are the limit.”
Interested in hearing more about the opportunities at BAE Systems’ FAST Labs? Check out career opportunities at https://jobs.baesystems.com/fastlabs.