ARIES SECURITY ANNOUNCES NEW COLLABORATION WITH DOD, NEW CTF MOD FOR CAPTURE THE PACKET

Washington, D.C – Aries Security founder, Brian Markus, has once again been tapped by the Department of Defense to develop a cutting-edge cyber training capability.  The company will develop a Capture the Flag (CTF) lightweight cyber training platform for the Department of Defense (DoD). Using the existing Capture The Packet (CTP) engine, Aries will create a new module to meet the training needs of an ever-evolving cyber threat landscape, in order to cover the full spectrum of offensive and defensive capabilities. This unique project will be spearheaded by leading hacker minds that have created and competed against the most challenging CTF’s, both domestically and abroad.

As the United States faces serious threats from cyber warfare, terrorism and crime, it is imperative that DoD implements a comprehensive and holistic training to enhance mission readiness. The Aries-developed CTF lightweight cyber training platform will provide persistent, realistic, end-to-end cyber mission training in the areas of software operating systems, software code vulnerability identification patching and reverse engineering of exploits and malware, and other software based cyber effects tasks. Using the famed DEF CON Black Badge Event Capture The Packet’s engine, this new iteration of CTF will provide next-level training for the nation’s best cyber attackers and defenders.

In a recent interview with Socratic Arts, Frank DiGiovanni, Director of Force Readiness and Training for the Department of Defense said that “the security of our nation is at stake. I think it’s imperative for the Department to embrace the hacker community.” This new project highlights the growing trend of innovative collaboration between the public and private sector to secure U.S. cyber posture and enhance offense and defense capabilities. Previously, the DoD contracted Aries Security to provide cyber defender training capabilities to instruct and assess cyber warfighters. Given its prior success, Markus and his team were asked to build a CTF module to run on CTP.

Aries founder Brian Markus said at a recent event, “The CTF lightweight cyber training will continue to modernize the Department’s approach to cybersecurity training. The realistic training environment seeks to test all DoD cyber practitioners to the fullest extent of their skill, which ensures that we have the best defenses in place protecting our country, our infrastructure and our security.”

Aries Security is best known for creating the Wall of Sheep, featured at the DEF CON and Black Hat conferences, pioneering awareness of Juice Jacking, and is recognized throughout the world of network security. Aries Security established itself in the hacker community with their  “Capture The Packet” program, a highly-sophisticated simulator and skills assessment suite has been recognized at conferences like DEF CON, r00tz Asylum, Cisco, Hacker Halted, RSA NetWitness and Security Analytics conferences.