Dive Brief:

• Department of Defense researchers are working on a program that will allow it to track and identify hackers, according to a Nextgov report.

• The so-called "Enhanced Attribution Program" will reportedly allow the government to identify an attacker and predict where that hacker might attack next.

• The Pentagon is currently soliciting bids for the program and said it expects it to be up and running by early 2018.

Dive Insight:

While hackers constantly innovate new ways to attack systems and steal data, very little progress has been made in tracking the hackers effectively. DARPA's technology, if it works, could be a game changer for technology security and prosecuting those responsible. 

The system would reportedly identify the computer or other device used to develop malware and enable visibility into the hackers cyber actions, according to an April 22 contract solicitation.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which is leading the effort, said the program's engine would track personas and create "algorithms for developing predictive behavioral profiles.”

"Many of the things that we might wish to do, such as a prosecution or invoking economic sanctions, or with even name and shame," require sharing the collected information with outsiders, Angelos Keromytis, the program lead at the DARPA told Nextgov.

Keromytis said he hopes that within 18 months of the program’s launch date the technology could catch hackers in the act.