The U.S. Air Force is increasing its use of ethical hackers to simulate cyber attacks on its information technology networks and Lauren Knausenberger, chief transformation officer at the service, said a $75 million blanket purchase agreement the service signed with cybersecurity firm Dark Wolf in February 2020 is an example of that, FedScoop reported Monday.
Airmen and other Air Force personnel can ask Dark Wolf to perform penetration testing on their networks under the BPA.
“For the past three years now we have really been embracing the hacker community,” Knausenberger said of the Air Force’s bug bounty programs. “I do expect our demand will continue for some time.”
The Air Force is leveraging authorization to operate and other new authorities to sign deals with cybersecurity companies to expand “white hat” hacking and penetration testing efforts.
