FEDERAL CYBERSECURITY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIC PLAN (2019)
for cybersecurity tasks beyond malware and intrusion detection and beyond signature-based
approaches. Develop automated orchestration of security capabilities that use AI.
• Study the behaviors of AI systems, including their behaviors in the presence of human
interactions, in order to make the systems trustworthy. Develop methodologies to validate and
interpret results from AI systems against human perceptions and expectations. Develop
techniques to improve provenance of results produced by AI systems.
• Develop tools and techniques for understanding attacks and defenses against ML systems. Improve
formal method techniques to verify security and robustness of ML algorithms at both training and
deployment times. Find cryptographic methods to ensure tamper-resilient storage of training
data and tamper-resilient computation for ML, and to enable data sharing for machine learning
without disclosing the sources or sensitive information. Develop new AI-based capabilities that
can accommodate semantic security properties. Study potential vulnerabilities of chips, processors,
and special-purpose devices built for AI applications, in view of the emergence of AI and
neuromorphic chips and processors that feature in-memory processing and analog computing.
• Develop models, definitions, and metrics of security and trust that can be used to evaluate AI
cybersecurity systems and AI-based cybersecurity controls. Ensure that security, safety, and
privacy be preserved at different levels of abstraction, from high-level planning and decisionmaking to low-level execution of AI systems.
Quantum Information Science
Quantum computing raises the possibility of some current data encryption systems being defeated. For
this reason, the Administration’s 2018 National Cyber Strategy points out the potential impacts of
quantum computers. Recent progress in realizing small-scale quantum computers demonstrates the
commercial and public interest in these devices. While there is a vast gulf between these devices and
large-scale quantum machines that would threaten current cryptological standards,12,13 the
anticipated impacts on security necessitate early planning to ensure that the national cybersecurity
goals are met.
In addition to quantum computing, other key quantum technologies identified in the Administration’s
September 2018 National Strategic Overview for Quantum Information Science 14 include sensing;
position, navigation, and timing; and communication. Together with quantum computing, these
applications are poised to shape future directions for QIS and cybersecurity research. There are two
questions to consider at the interface between the two fields. The first question is whether or how
quantum technologies can impact or break current cybersecurity methods; hence, securing
communications and computation becomes vital. In fact, the National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 201915 cited “secure communications and cryptography” in its call for a quantum
information science and technology R&D plan. The second question is how to protect future quantum
computing infrastructure and quantum information technology from attacks. Since quantum
12
13
14
15
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Quantum Computing: Progress and Prospects.
Washington, DC: The National Academies Press (2019); https://doi.org/10.17226/25196.
National Institute of Standards and Technology. “Post-Quantum Cryptography,” last updated October 22,
2019; https://csrc.nist.gov/projects/post-quantum-cryptography/workshops-and-timeline.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/National-Strategic-Overview-for-QuantumInformation-Science.pdf
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/5515/text (Section 234).
��� 13 –
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents