Shift5 Supports Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) In-Flight Cybersecurity and Maintenance Anomaly Detection Demonstration

June 19, 2024

18 3 minutes read

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Onboard Data Observability Supports Joint Force Data Democratization Efforts to Boost Fleet Readiness, Resilience, Survivability

Rosslyn, Virginia–(Newsfile Corp. – June 19, 2024) – Shift5, the observability platform for onboard operational technology (OT), today announced the Shift5 Platform was used in a demonstration by AFSOC to collect and analyze onboard data from an operational aircraft in real time, to detect cybersecurity and maintenance anomalies, and to stream anomalies from the tactical edge into a Department of Defense (DoD) cloud environment in real time. The demonstration showcased the ability of the Shift Platform to support mission readiness and cyber survivability of AFSOC platforms, and its ability to enable DoD data democratization efforts in support of joint force readiness and resilience goals.

During this first-of-its-kind demonstration for AFSOC, the Shift5 Platform enabled an AFSOC Mission Defense Team (MDT) to collect and analyze serial bus data from an operational aircraft as it was generated during a flight. The Shift5 Platform detected a set of simulated operational and cybersecurity anomalies which were streamed to the MDT ground station. Once received, the MDT streamed the alerts and corresponding data into a joint cloud instance in real-time for further analysis, enabling real-time cybersecurity and maintenance intelligence use across the joint force.

With the Shift5 Platform, an AFSOC MDT was empowered with maintenance and cybersecurity monitoring, insights and intelligence, and the ability to build and deploy new detections. Once in the DoD cloud, Shift5 data is combined with other operational data to provide AFSOC with greater situational awareness, enabling it to apply insights to improve the readiness, survivability, and lethality of vehicles fleet-wide.

“Mission readiness and resilience of the warfighter are linchpins of American dominance during the era of the Great Power Competition,” said Josh Lospinoso, CEO and co-founder, Shift5. “This era is defined by the use of electronic and hybrid warfare tactics, creating an attack surface from the operational technology within weapon systems and platforms. To mitigate cybersecurity and operational risks, AFSOC is leveraging observability to gain situational battlefield intelligence, enabling it to make smarter, faster decisions with access to real-time data, contextual insights, and actionable analytics at the edge.”

Through the demonstration, Shift5 illustrated how The Shift5 Platform offers AFSOC enhanced operational efficiency and improved asset availability, improved cybersecurity posture and proactive threat response, as well as cross-functional insights and real-time decision intelligence.

The Shift5 Platform brings order to the complexity of onboard data flowing from commercial aerospace, rail, maritime, and military vehicles and weapon systems. It captures and analyzes real-time serial bus data, revealing critical operational and cybersecurity insights that enable organizations to move from data to decisions quickly and confidently. Shift5 unlocks the complete ecosystem of onboard data for operations, maintenance, and cybersecurity teams, enabling real-time decision intelligence through comprehensive onboard data access and observability from the asset level to fleet scale. The Shift5 Platform can be deployed using existing onboard compute resources. It is hardware, bus, and protocol agnostic and is designed to perform passive, full-take data capture from any onboard source – every frame, every bus, every protocol. The Shift5 Platform supports several modules:

Cybersecurity Module – Detect, identify, and alert on anomalous activities and known threats, providing real time notifications that enable faster response and proactive mitigation of potential cybersecurity risks.
Predictive Maintenance Module – Get real time, data driven insights needed to predict and schedule maintenance effectively, helping to avoid failures before they happen and to ensure the safety and performance of critical transportation and defense fleets.
Compliance Module – Automate compliance efforts for onboard fleet data by helping to ensure that it is processed, managed, and stored in accordance with regulatory requirements and industry best practices.
GPS Integrity Module – Enhance situational awareness by delivering direct, real time alerts for GPS spoofing attempts, helping facilitate more efficient and secure decision making processes.

The Shift5 Platform has earned “awardable” status by the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office’s (CDAO) Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace.

About Shift5
Shift5 is the observability platform for onboard operational technology (OT), enabling smarter, faster decisions through real-time data access, contextual insights, and actionable analytics at the edge for aerospace, rail, maritime, and defense. Created by officers who stood up U.S. Army Cyber Command and pioneered modern weapons system cyber assessments, Shift5 defends commercial and military fleets as well as weapon systems against operational failures and OT cybersecurity risks. Household name aviation companies, U.S. railroads, and fleets within the U.S. military rely on Shift5 for the security, availability, safety, resilience, and reliability of today’s fleets and tomorrow’s next-generation assets. For more information, visit shift5.io.

Media Contact:
Katie Garagozzo
katie@shift5.io
Shift5, Inc.