Sometimes in the alphabet soup of military parlance, an acronym emerges that actually hits the mark. Take, for instance, C-RAPID, a product of the Army’s Program Executive Officer – Enterprise Information Systems.
The Cyberspace Real-time Acquisition Prototyping Innovation Development promises to do just what it says: Generate cutting-edge solutions to evolving cyber threats. Unlike other military efforts to partner with industry for real-time solutions, C-RAPID will be an actual place, a “forge” where cyber troops will test emerging defenses for quick deployment.
The cyber forge is slated to open at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, in April and to be fully operational by June.
Early trials of the C-RAPID approach suggest it could dramatically speed delivery of cyber solutions. In one test case, a team was able to remediate an emerging network threat in just eight days, a task that normally takes weeks. “We can do it. But it takes a revolutionary approach in terms of how we look at the problem and look at the tools we can use,” said LTC Scott Helmore, the product manager for Defensive Cyber Operations (DCO) at PEO EIS