New IARPA initiative seeks to evaluate cyber psychology in fight against hackers

CyberScoop reports that the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity has launched the new Reimagining Security with Cyberpsychology-Informed Network Defenses project, also known as ReSCIND, which seeks to lead to the development of new software exploiting the psychological weaknesses of threat actors. Expert teams are being sought by the ReSCIND initiative to conduct human-subject research that would help identify potentially exploitable "cognitive vulnerabilities," although the process integration of such frailties in a software solution remains unclear. "When you look at how attackers gain access, they often take advantage of human limitations and errors, but our defenses don't do that," said project lead Kimberly Ferguson-Walter. While human psychological vulnerabilities have been exploited in advertising and political campaigns, they may yield significant breakthroughs in bolstering defensive cybersecurity capabilities, noted Paladin Capital Group Strategic Adviser Mary Aiken. "Cybersecurity protects your data, your systems, and your networks. It does not protect what it is to be human online," Aiken added.