Lockheed Martin pilots new cyber resiliency level model

Lockheed Martin has piloted a new model that standardises the measurement of the cyber resiliency maturity of a weapon, mission, and / or training system.

The company’s cyber experts developed the Cyber Resiliency Level model (CRL).

Cyber resiliency represents the ability to ‘anticipate, withstand, recover from, and adapt to changing conditions’ to ensure mission effective capability.

Lockheed Martin stated that the aerospace and defence industry does not have a uniform model to measure cyber resiliency of a military system and that the CRL will address the issue.

As part of the model implementation, engineers will assist the US and allied military programme stakeholders to conduct risk and engineering assessments.

Lockheed Martin government affairs cyber director Jim Keffer said: “Today’s software-based military systems and a global supply chain make securing military systems a complex problem to solve.

“With the CRL, we can now leverage existing risk management frameworks to effectively measure and communicate resiliency across six categories we know are important to our customers.

“The release of this model builds on Lockheed Martin’s enduring commitment to mission assurance and will ultimately help the warfighter operate in cyber-contested environments.”

The model is intended to ensure troops have ‘cyber-hardened’ weapons systems. It can be used to measure risk across six categories, including visibility, cyber hygiene, requirements, test and evaluation, architecture, and information sharing.

The pilot programme involved satellites and fighter jets.

Keffer added: “In an era of scarce resources, the CRL model can help stakeholders make informed decisions and prioritise cyber spending on the most impactful solutions.”

The company has so far performed model-based assessments on several of its own systems.

By the end of this year, at least ten CRL assessments are expected to be conducted.