DARPA's new cybersecurity project seeks to secure major infrastructure assets such as the U.S. power grid. Photo by StockSnap/Pixabay

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Raytheon has received a $9 million contract to support the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Project's Agency's latest cybersecurity project.

Under the contract, Raytheon will assist the agency with developing new technologies capable of deterring cyber attacks on the country's power grid as well as other valuable assets. The project is known the Rapid Attack Detection, Isolation, and Characterization Systems program, or RADICS.


"During the last two decades, industrial control systems have evolved so that most are now connected to the Internet, making them vulnerable to cyber attack," Raytheon Technologies Networking and Communications vice president Jason Redi said in a press release. "A significant power disruption would have profound economic and human costs in the U.S, so our goals are to prevent attacks and to reduce the time required to restore power after an attack."

DARPA explains the goal of RADICS is the development of early-warning approaches for impending cybersecurity breaches. The agency is also eyeing other capabilities such as anomaly detection, automated reasoning, and rapid forensic characterization.

In addition to developing supportive technologies, Raytheon will also be tasked with exploring methods to secure emergency communication networks in the aftermath of a cyber attack. The company's existing approach is to isolate affected organizations from the Internet to establish a secure network and coordinate power restoration without relying on outside networks.