Computer vs. computer in upcoming hacking conference

DARPA wants seven teams to write software that will allow computers to hack each other in a contest at the upcoming DEF CON hacking conference. Image INQUIRER.net

Hacking into computers is considered a crime and can put an offender behind bars. But what if a computer hacks another computer?

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) just released details of a contest where seven teams from the academe and industry will pit high-powered computers against one another at the annual DEF CON hacking conference in Las Vegas, the MIT Technology Review reports .

The agency will provide 1,000 processor cored computers each with 16-terabyte memory. Participants will then develop their own software that will compete with the other computers without any human intervention.

The winning team will receive $2 million and be invited to compete against other hackers in DEF CON’s annually held capture-the-flag contest.

Typically a security exploit could last a year without being detected. By this time, the hacker could have done immense damage to the system.

Mike Walker, DARPA program manager for the Cyber Grand Challenge project, doesn’t expect the computers to do so well against human hackers but hopes that with a software that is able to defend itself, detection can be lowered to minutes or even seconds.

By the end of the competition, teams are required to release all their code as open source.  Alfred Bayle/rga