Psychological Fallout: DARPA-Backed Project Addresses Societal Toll of Cyberattacks

The United States has prepared for decades to defend itself from every conceivable military conflict on its shores, but it turns out psychological warfare, not missiles, might pose the greatest threat to national security.

This is a challenge Assistant Professor Ryan Shandler will spend the next two years exploring as a recipient of the Young Faculty Award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

DARPA uses this award to recognize up-and-coming early-career faculty it hopes to continue working with in the future.

Currently, DARPA is concerned with cyberattacks from foreign countries aimed at provoking social unrest and eroding public trust in democratic institutions. In a study released last year by Microsoft, it was estimated that 600 million cyberattacks were launched everyday by criminals and nation-state actors from July 2023 to July 2024.

Tools built by cybersecurity engineers help mitigate the attacks made by criminals and in some cases even help track down stolen money. However, nation-state actors don’t launch cyberattacks to score a payday.