Perspecta Labs to conduct critical research for machine learning and artificial intelligence security

CHANTILLY, Va., Sept. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Perspecta Inc. (NYSE: PRSP), announced today that its innovative applied research arm, Perspecta Labs, received an award from the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) to provide research on the Trojans in Artificial Intelligence (TrojAI) program.

Advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have added complexity to the threat landscape. By hacking the training phase of ML, adversaries can disrupt AI systems during development, causing them to make incorrect classifications and take dangerous actions. The goal of the TrojAI program is to detect adversarial Trojans placed into AI systems to prevent such attacks. Perspecta Labs will lead a team of researchers to study Trojan contamination and develop and provide a multi-faceted detection mechanism to significantly reduce Trojan security risks.

"At Perspecta Labs, we welcome the opportunity to support IARPA on research to defend critical AI systems against malicious interference," said Petros Mouchtaris, president and general manager, Perspecta Labs. "We look forward to applying our leading expertise in adversarial ML combined with our vast experience in cybersecurity to develop new solutions that can automatically identify compromised AI systems in support of this critical work."

To accomplish this task, the Perspecta Labs team will develop automatic tools to detect Trojans hidden within AI systems. Several techniques will be developed to provide multi-pronged detection, including: detecting Trojans by stimulating neurons in a neural network model and leveraging gradient magnitudes to identify Trojans among candidate triggers; confirming the presence of Trojans via differences in the distribution of vector representations of sample inputs generated from the AI; and detecting Trojans based on the clustering properties of adversarial directions.

About Perspecta Inc.

At Perspecta (NYSE: PRSP), we question, we seek and we solve. Perspecta brings a diverse set of capabilities to our U.S. government customers in defense, intelligence, civilian, health care and state and local markets. Our 280+ issued, licensed and pending patents are more than just pieces of paper, they tell the story of our innovation. With offerings in mission services, digital transformation and enterprise operations, our team of nearly 14,000 engineers, analysts, investigators and architects work tirelessly to not only execute the mission, but build and support the backbone that enables it. Perspecta was formed to take on big challenges. We are an engine for growth and success and we enable our customers to build a better nation.  For more information about Perspecta, visit perspecta.com.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made on the basis of the current beliefs, expectations and assumptions of the management of Perspecta and are subject to significant risks and uncertainty. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. All such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and Perspecta undertakes no obligation to update or revise these statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Although Perspecta believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements involve a variety of risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from what may be expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements.

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