Shielding the Mind: DARPA’s Intrinsic Cognitive Security (ICS) Program Fortifies Mixed Reality Systems

In the realm of mixed reality (MR), where the physical and digital worlds seamlessly intertwine, a new frontier of security is emerging. Led by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Intrinsic Cognitive Security (ICS) program aims to safeguard MR systems from cognitive attacks, a novel form of cyber-intrusion that targets human perception and cognition.

The Rise of Cognitive Attacks: A New Threat to Mixed Reality

MR systems, with their immersive and interactive nature, offer a wealth of possibilities for various applications, from training and education to remote collaboration and entertainment. However, as MR technology becomes more prevalent, so does the potential for malicious exploitation.

Cognitive attacks not only disrupt MR headsets but can also involve real-world objects overwhelming displays, causing false alarms with physical objects, and using eye trackers to assess user activity. The agency envisions scenarios where adversaries could manipulate soldiers’ augmented reality experiences, introducing real-world objects into their digital field, overwhelming displays, or exploiting eye-tracking movements. A particularly concerning possibility is flooding a soldier’s headset with disruptive data, inducing latency and physical discomfort.

Cognitive attacks seek to manipulate human perception and cognition, exploiting vulnerabilities in the way we process and interpret information. These attacks can range from subtle manipulations of visual or auditory stimuli to more sophisticated techniques that target our emotions, beliefs, and decision-making processes.

The ICS Program: Fortifying MR Systems from Cognitive Attacks

In a bid to secure mixed reality (MR) headsets from potential cognitive attacks that could compromise soldiers in the field, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is launching the Intrinsic Cognitive Security (ICS) program. Cognitive attacks, defined as adversarial actions exploiting the connection between users and MR equipment, include tactics like flooding information to induce latency, injecting virtual data, and disrupting personal area networks.

The ICS program, recognizing the growing threat of cognitive attacks, aims to develop novel computational methods that can protect MR systems and their users from these intrusions.

DARPA’s ICS program aims to mathematically model human perception, action, memory, and reasoning, extending formal methods to provide cognitive guarantees and protection against these attacks. By creating and analyzing cognitive models during MR system development, the program seeks to protect warfighters from adversary attacks.

The program’s core hypothesis is that formal methods, traditionally used in software verification and validation, can be extended to provide guarantees against cognitive attacks. This involves symbolically examining the entire state space of a digital design to establish correctness or safety properties for all possible inputs.

By employing formal methods, the ICS program seeks to:

1. Model User Behavior in MR Environments: Develop computational models of human behavior in MR environments, allowing for a deeper understanding of how users interact with and respond to MR stimuli.

2. Analyze and Proactively Identify Cognitive Attacks: Employ formal methods to analyze MR system designs and identify potential vulnerabilities that could be exploited for cognitive attacks.

3. Design and Implement Cognitive Attack Mitigation Strategies: Develop and implement mitigation strategies that can actively protect MR systems and their users from cognitive attacks.

Technical Areas

The ICS program aims to develop novel computational methods that can protect mixed reality (MR) systems and their users from cognitive attacks. These attacks seek to manipulate human perception and cognition, exploiting vulnerabilities in the way we process and interpret information.

The program’s core approaches involve the following technical areas:

Formal methods: The ICS program employs formal methods, traditionally used in software verification and validation, to analyze and verify the security of MR systems against cognitive attacks. Formal methods provide a rigorous and systematic approach to identifying and eliminating vulnerabilities, ensuring that MR systems are resistant to manipulation.

Computational modeling of human behavior: The program develops computational models of human behavior in MR environments. These models capture the complex interactions between users and MR systems, allowing researchers to assess how users respond to different stimuli and how their cognitive processes can be affected by malicious manipulations.

Cognitive attack detection and mitigation: The program develops techniques to detect and mitigate cognitive attacks in real time. This involves identifying anomalous behavior in user interactions with MR systems and implementing strategies to neutralize the effects of cognitive attacks, protecting users from manipulation.

Explainable AI: The program incorporates explainable AI (XAI) techniques to provide insights into the decision-making processes of AI systems used in MR environments. This transparency is crucial for building trust in these systems and ensuring that users understand the reasoning behind their actions.

Multi-modal sensing and fusion: The program explores the use of multi-modal sensing and fusion to enhance the detection and mitigation of cognitive attacks. By combining data from multiple sensors, such as eye trackers, EEG devices, and wearable sensors, the program aims to create a more comprehensive understanding of user behavior and detect subtle signs of cognitive manipulation.

Human-AI teaming and collaboration: The program investigates the role of human-AI teaming and collaboration in protecting against cognitive attacks. By developing collaborative frameworks, the program aims to leverage the strengths of both humans and AI to effectively detect, analyze, and mitigate cognitive threats.

These technical areas represent a comprehensive approach to addressing the challenges of cognitive security in MR systems. By combining formal methods, computational modeling, AI, and human-centered design, the ICS program aims to create a new generation of MR systems that are secure, trustworthy, and resilient to cognitive attacks.

The Significance of ICS: A Paradigm Shift in MR Security

The ICS program represents a significant paradigm shift in MR security, moving beyond traditional approaches that focus on protecting systems from external threats. By addressing cognitive attacks, the program aims to safeguard the integrity of the MR experience itself, ensuring that users can interact with these systems without fear of manipulation or exploitation.

The successful implementation of ICS technologies could have far-reaching implications for the future of MR, enabling more secure and trustworthy deployments across various domains, including:

• Military Training and Simulations: Protecting military personnel from cognitive attacks during training simulations, ensuring their ability to make sound decisions under pressure.

• Medical Procedures and Surgical Guidance: Safeguarding medical professionals from cognitive attacks during delicate procedures, ensuring the accuracy and precision of their actions.

• Education and Learning Experiences: Protecting students from cognitive attacks in immersive learning environments, fostering a safe and conducive learning atmosphere.

Challenges and Future Developments:

The ICS program is moving swiftly, seeking to outpace issues identified in tests of mixed reality HoloLens headsets conducted by the U.S. Army. These tests revealed discomfort and nausea after mere hours of use. While the IVAS (Integrated Visual Augmentation System) project, developed in collaboration with Microsoft, has faced challenges, DARPA is confident that the ICS program will advance cognitive security features for MR systems before they become widespread in battlefield use. As prototypes of IVAS 1.2 are being tested for affordability and integration with tactical cloud systems, DARPA’s ICS program emerges as a crucial step in ensuring the safety and effectiveness of soldiers relying on mixed reality technology.

Conclusion: A Future of Secure and Trustworthy Mixed Reality

The ICS program, with its innovative approach to cognitive security, holds immense promise for the future of MR. By proactively addressing the threat of cognitive attacks, the program paves the way for a more secure and trustworthy MR ecosystem, one that empowers users to explore the boundless possibilities of this emerging technology without compromising their cognitive integrity.

References and Resources also include:

https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/12/darpa_worried_battlefield_mixed_reality/