The US Defense Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Microsoft announced a new partnership to help AI Cyber Challenge competitors.
Rules of the challenge and prize of the competition on the official website As explained, basically, this is a 2-year event that asks top minds in the field of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity to design systems that will protect critical infrastructure for the United States.
Microsoft states that it will allow contestants to use its latest artificial models through Azure cloud services and includes the following: says: “Innovation with artificial intelligence and cyber security is even more important for areas such as critical infrastructure, where the risk is highest. We have observed an increase in infrastructure attacks in places like Ukraine, where our threat intelligence teams are tracking multiple waves of cyberattacks. We are putting these learnings into action by supporting the AI Cyber Challenge to help the country protect critical infrastructure from financial systems to public services from cyber threats.â€
Microsoft will give these teams $150,000 worth of Azure credits as well as $200,000 worth of Microsoft business products.
The competition, which will last for two years, will be held in two stages. The first phase will end at the 2024 DEF CON security conference to be held in Las Vegas on August 8-11. DARPA will select the top seven teams that will become semifinalists, and each of these teams will be awarded $2 million.
These seven teams will then enter the second and final phase of the DARPA AI Cyber Challenge. Winners will be announced at the 2025 DEF CON conference. The winning team will receive $4 million, the second team will receive $3 million, and the third team will receive $1.5 million.
