DARPA says goodbye to hacker-friendly Cyber Fast Track program

 The Department of Defense is pulling the plug on Cyber Fast Track, a program aimed at tapping reformed hackers and other security hotshots to solve cyber-defense problems quickly.

Looking to circumvent the typical onerous, long-term process of funding grants, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) used the program to improve the government’s ability to keep up with fast-moving bad actors on the cybercriminal stage.

"For the time and money currently invested for one program, the government is striving to engage in dozens of programs,” DARPA explained in its mission statement for the program. “The government needs agile cyber projects that are smaller in effort, have a potential for large payoff, and result in a rapid turnaround, creating a greater cost to the adversary to counter.”