Publications
Dedicated vs. distributed: a study of mission survivability metrics
Summary
Summary
A traditional trade-off when designing a mission critical network is whether to deploy a small, dedicated network of highly reliable links (e.g. dedicated fiber) or a largescale, distributed network of less reliable links (e.g. a leased line over the Internet). In making this decision, metrics are needed that can express...
Efficient transmission of DoD PKI certificates in tactical networks
Summary
Summary
The DoD vision of real-time information sharing and net-centric services available to warfighters at the tactical edge is challenged by low-bandwidth and high-latency tactical network links. Secured tactical applications require transmission of digital certificates that contribute a major portion of data in most secure sessions, which further increases response time...
Achieving cyber survivability in a contested environment using a cyber moving target
Summary
Summary
We describe two components for achieving cyber survivability in a contested environment: an architectural component that provides heterogeneous computing platforms and an assessment technology that complements the architectural component by analyzing the threat space and triggering reorientation based on the evolving threat level. Together, these technologies provide a cyber moving...
Creating a cyber moving target for critical infrastructure applications
Summary
Summary
Despite the significant amount of effort that often goes into securing critical infrastructure assets, many systems remain vulnerable to advanced, targeted cyber attacks. This paper describes the design and implementation of the Trusted Dynamic Logical Heterogeneity System (TALENT), a framework for live-migrating critical infrastructure applications across heterogeneous platforms. TALENT permits...
Information security for situational awareness in computer network defense
Summary
Summary
Situational awareness - the perception of "what's going on" - is crucial in every field of human endeavor, especially so in the cyber world where most of the protections afforded by physical time and distance are taken away. Since ancient times, military science emphasized the importance of preserving your awareness...
Design, implementation and evaluation of covert channel attacks
Summary
Summary
Covert channel attacks pose a threat to the security of critical infrastructure and key resources (CIKR). To design defenses and countermeasures against this threat, we must understand all classes of covert channel attacks along with their properties. Network-based covert channels have been studied in great detail in previous work, although...
Secure channel establishment in disadvantaged networks: optimizing TLS using intercepting proxies
Summary
Summary
Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a secure communication protocol that is used in many secure electronic applications. In order to establish a TLS connection, a client and server engage in a handshake, which usually involves the transmission of digital certificates. In this paper we present a practical speedup of TLS...
TALENT: dynamic platform heterogeneity for cyber survivability of mission critical applications
Summary
Summary
Despite the significant amount of effort that often goes into securing mission critical systems, many remain vulnerable to advanced, targeted cyber attacks. In this work, we design and implement TALENT (Trusted dynAmic Logical hEterogeNeity sysTem), a framework to live-migrate mission critical applications across heterogeneous platforms. TALENT enables us to change...
GROK: a practical system for securing group communications
Summary
Summary
We have designed and implemented a general-purpose cryptographic building block, called GROK, for securing communication among groups of entities in networks composed of high-latency, low-bandwidth, intermittently connected links. During the process, we solved a number of non-trivial system problems. This paper describes these problems and our solutions, and motivates and...
Data diodes in support of trustworthy cyber infrastructure
Summary
Summary
Interconnections between process control networks and enterprise networks has resulted in the proliferation of standard communication protocols in industrial control systems which exposes instrumentation, control systems, and the critical infrastructure components they operate to a variety of cyber attacks. Various standards and technologies have been proposed to protect industrial control...