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Closed call 2022-02-14: C3.ai DTI Announces 3rd Call for Proposals – AI to Transform Cybersecurity & Secure Critical Infrastructure

The submission deadline extended to February 14! Open call to researchers at KTH Royal Institute of Technology and researchers at Digital Futures with partner Stockholm University.

Proposals must be submitted to EasyChair by February 14, 2022, at 11:59 pm PDT.

The C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute announces its third call for research proposals: AI to Transform Cybersecurity and Secure Critical Infrastructure. This exciting and timely topic aims to advance foundational AI/ML techniques, tools, and methods to combat cyberattacks, insider threats, security breaches, vulnerability exploitation, and organizational challenges in securing information technology (IT), operational technology (OT), and critical infrastructures.

The C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute (C3DTI) was established in 2020 by C3 AI and Microsoft and co-led by UC Berkeley and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with consortium partners Carnegie Mellon University, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Stanford University, and University of Chicago, and with high-performance computing support from LBL and the National Center for Supercomputing Application at UIUC.

The goal of C3DTI is to catalyze cooperative research activities and advances in mathematical, statistical, and computing research, combining machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT) and ethics and social responsibility in the development and fielding of technology.

This C3DTI Call for Proposals addresses the challenges for AI to Transform Cybersecurity and Secure Critical Infrastructure.

Areas of interest include but are not restricted to:

  1. AI techniques to identify previously unknown malware, ransomware, and zero-day vulnerabilities, enabling isolation and neutralization
  2. AI-enabled network and system crawlers that can continuously search and identify persistent access mechanisms (backdoors), bots, remote access toolkits (RATS), stagers, and Trojans
  3. AI forensics and attribution techniques to identify sources of attacks
  4. AI techniques to automate simulated adversarial attacks to identify system and network vulnerabilities
  5. AI techniques to accurately identify and enable the neutralization of phishing attacks
  6. Change management techniques to prevent the weaponization of innocent insiders
  7. AI techniques to detect the presence of advanced persistent threats and insider threats
  8. AI-enabled network and/or system crawlers that access and continuously evaluate system security levels
  9. AI techniques, perhaps in supervised or unsupervised learning, to provide early detection of the system and/or network anomalies that might be indicative of unauthorized access, denial of service, or data exfiltration
  10. Techniques and methods to enable the development of AI algorithms that are resilient to adversarial attacks
  11. AI techniques to identify concentration risk in the software and computer supply chain
  12. Change management to transform organizational behaviour to manifest best practices in cyber hygiene
  13. Techniques to respond to attacks at the organizational and societal level.

See details of the areas and the latest information at https://c3dti.ai/research/ai-AI to Transform Cybersecurity and Secure Critical Infrastructure This page includes all information required for the application including eligibility, review criteria, information sessions, funding and more. General questions about the proposal preparation should be directed to the C3DTI by e-mail proposals@c3dti.ai.

Eligible Digital Futures applicants are

  • PI’s:  faculty members at KTH (assistant, associate, or full professors)
  • Co-investigators (co-PI’s): faculty members and researchers (PhD’s) with permanent positions at KTH and SU

For KTH-led proposals, Co-Investigators should be faculty members from a C3.ai DTI consortium partner institution or Stockholm University. PI’s and Co-PIs for proposals involving KTH and/or SU shall contact call@digitalfutures.kth.se as soon as possible and at the latest one week before the submission deadline to clarify budget constraints and administrative details etc. Other questions on the specifics regarding participation by KTH and SU researchers in this call should also be directed to Digital Futures at call@digitalfutures.kth.se.

Deadline: Proposals must be submitted to EasyChair by February 7, 2022, at 11:59 pm PDT. The submission deadline is extended to February 14, 2022, at 11:59 pm PDT! See AI to Transform Cybersecurity and Secure Critical Infrastructure.

Information Session 18 January 2022 (online) by Digital Futures

  • Digital Futures is hosting an Online Information Event to answer questions – open to potential applicants. No registration is required.
  • Date and time: 18 January 2022, at 13.00 – 14.00  (1 pm – 2 pm Swedish local time)
  • Zoom: https://kth-se.zoom.us/j/68412023891

Weekly Office Hours (Online)

Additionally, the C3DTI Development Operations staff will be available to answer your questions about computing resources on Tuesdays beginning January 11, 2022, until the proposal submission deadline, between 12:00-1:00 PM U.S. Eastern / 9:00-10:00 AM U.S. Pacific. Please use this Zoom Meeting link: https://illinois.zoom.us/j/81346993051?pwd=VnJwVkdBenZOZ0duWGxkOURJTytWdz09

Introductory video

Proposals should explain how the C3 AI Suite (powered by Microsoft Azure) will be used to deal with new computational challenges and analyze complex data at scale. To inform your proposal, you may review the following C3DTI video recordings that describe computing resources available to C3DTI awardees. An overview of the C3 AI Suite and supporting resources is at: