Young Pinoy joins ‘hacking for defense’ program of US gov’t

A young Filipino based in Arizona has been accepted as part of the “Hacking for Defense (H4D)” program being held this fall at Arizona University. Valenzuela City-born Francis Mendoza said that the program is under the National Security Innovations Network, enabling him to work with several defense and intelligence communities in addressing emerging threats and security challenges in the United States. Mendoza studied robotics and autonomous systems (with concentration on artificial intelligence) at Arizona State University. “I am excited to apply my cybersecurity and autonomous systems skills to develop a compelling prototype that will be in production by the end of the term. For a more secure and more prepared America,” he said. Prior to H4D, Mendoza completed his first live-fire cyberwarfare exercise as part of the “Cybersecurity of Energy Operational Technology” course at Arizona State University, in partnership with the Office of Naval Research. Through this event, Mendoza said he learned how to attack and defend mission-critical infrastructure. The highlight of the exercise was successfully crippling a simulated version of the Washington state power grid. “This is a new and terrifying age of warfare. Before, one needed hundreds of thousands of soldiers, billions of dollars, and approval from Congress to launch a campaign that would cost you dearly in terms of capital, sweat, and blood. Now, all one needs is a couple thousand dollars, a laptop, an Internet connection, and a small but elite team to launch a single attack that can cripple a nation’s mission-critical infrastructure and bring it to its knees,” he added. Among those considered vulnerable to cyberattack, he said, includes oil and gas pipelines, water purification plants, power grids, nuclear centrifuges, payments systems, and entire fleets of autonomous vehicles. “In the span of nanoseconds, the balance of power can shift, with the attackers never identified, vanishing without a trace,” Mendoza said.