Pentagon Will Counterattack Cyber Strikes

Blog%20chart%20blut.PNG

Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in science, devices, or systems.

The Pentagon has in mind a three-pronged counterattack against a decades-old form of cyber assault that continues to paralyze government and industry networks, despite its low cost of sometimes $10 a hit. Beginning next spring, military-funded researchers are scheduled to produce new tools that would quickly enable organizations to bounce back from so-called distributed denial-of-service attacks. A recovery rate of at most 10 seconds is the goal, according to the Defense Department.

Today, attackers have a relatively easy time aiming bogus traffic at computer servers to knock them offline. One reason is that computer systems often are consolidated, making for a wide target area. Another weakness is the predictable behavior of systems that support Web services. And finally, certain types of DDoS attacks that evince little malicious traffic go undetected. 

Researchers chosen by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will attempt to deny attackers such openings through a three-year program called Extreme DDoS Defense, according to Pentagon officials. The tentative start date is April 1, 2016. 

The stability of agency operations, banking, online gaming and many other daily activities are at stake here.
A DDoS attack against Estonia in 2007 allegedly orchestrated by Russian-backed hackers downed government and industry Internet access nationwide for two weeks. More recently, crooks have begun offering Luddites DDoS-for-hire services at subscription rates of $10-$300 a month, according to journalist Brian Krebs. 

Lizard Squad, a major provider, allegedly was behind several persistent attacks on online gaming services Xbox and PlayStation. A string of 2011 cyber assaults against Wall Street banks, including Capital One and SunTrust Banks, was attributed to Iranian hackers. Just this month, at the annual Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas, Trend Micro researchers said they observed attackers trying to overpower systems in Washington that monitor the physical security of gas pumps. Luckily, the devices were fake “honeypot” traps.
"Responses to DDoS attacks are too slow and manually driven, with diagnosis and formulation of filtering rules often taking hours to formulate and instantiate. In contrast, military communication often demands that disruptions be limited to minutes or less," DARPA officials said in an Aug. 14 announcement about the new program.

The funding level for the project was not disclosed but multiple grants are expected to be awarded. Interested researchers must submit proposals by noon Oct. 13. XD3 will endeavor to thwart DDoS attacks by "dispersing cyber assets" in facilities and on networks, officials said. Currently, the problem is that cloud computing arrangements and other critical infrastructure systems "rely heavily on highly shared, centralized servers and data centers,” they added.
The new tools also will try "disguising the characteristics and behaviors of those assets" to complicate the planning of DDoS launches, officials said.

The trick with so-called "low-volume" DDoS attacks is they do not look like traffic overloads. The external computer messages seem benign but are actually exhausting a system's memory or processors. One workaround here might be sharing information among systems that then can "decide collectively whether attacks have occurred, and/or to determine what mitigations might be most effective,” officials said.

One group of XD3 researchers will be assigned to inspect the designs for unintended security holes.
Anyone wanting to be a reviewer must hold a top-secret clearance, according to the contract rules.
"The objective of design reviews is the proactive identification of weaknesses and vulnerabilities that would reduce the effectiveness of DDoS attack detection or mitigation," officials said. The idea also is to "apprise performers of potential DDoS attack methods or features that they might not have considered."
NextGov: http://bit.ly/1M5v5fO

 

« DEMOS: The Road to Representivity
Getting Hotter: China vs US Cyberwar »

CyberSecurity Jobsite
Check Point

Directory of Suppliers

CYRIN

CYRIN

CYRIN® Cyber Range. Real Tools, Real Attacks, Real Scenarios. See why leading educational institutions and companies in the U.S. have begun to adopt the CYRIN® system.

Practice Labs

Practice Labs

Practice Labs is an IT competency hub, where live-lab environments give access to real equipment for hands-on practice of essential cybersecurity skills.

NordLayer

NordLayer

NordLayer is an adaptive network access security solution for modern businesses — from the world’s most trusted cybersecurity brand, Nord Security. 

LockLizard

LockLizard

Locklizard provides PDF DRM software that protects PDF documents from unauthorized access and misuse. Share and sell documents securely - prevent document leakage, sharing and piracy.

IT Governance

IT Governance

IT Governance is a leading global provider of information security solutions. Download our free guide and find out how ISO 27001 can help protect your organisation's information.

BCS, The chartered Institute for IT

BCS, The chartered Institute for IT

BCS provides IT professionals with up to date and relevant certifications enabling them to manage IT security effectively within their budget.

Juniper Networks

Juniper Networks

Juniper Networks is the industry leader in network innovation. We provide network infrastructure and network security solutions.

GFI Software

GFI Software

GFI Software works with System Administrators, IT Professionals and IT Executives to ensure that their IT infrastructures are monitored, managed, secured and compliant.

Radiant Logic

Radiant Logic

Radiant Logic is a market-leading provider of federated identity solutions based on virtualization, and delivers simple, logical, and standards-based access to all identities within an organization.

Infoblox

Infoblox

Infoblox solutions help businesses automate complex network control functions to reduce costs, increase security and maximize uptime.

Genie Networks

Genie Networks

Genie Networks is a leading technology company providing networking and security solutions for optimizing the performance of large networks.

Emsisoft

Emsisoft

Emsisoft protects your devices against all types of malware, ransomware and other threats with no-bloat anti-malware & antivirus solutions.

Randori

Randori

Randori is an attack platform that provides "red-teaming" as a service - basically, staging simulated hack attacks to test for vulnerabilities and gaps in the security response.

Cofrac

Cofrac

Cofrac is the national accreditation body for France. The directory of members provides details of organisations offering certification services for ISO 27001.

Blackpoint Cyber

Blackpoint Cyber

Blackpoint’s mission is to provide effective, affordable real-time threat detection and response to organizations of all sizes around the world.

Texas A&M Cybersecurity Center

Texas A&M Cybersecurity Center

Texas A&M Cybersecurity Center is dedicated to combating adversaries who desire to harm our citizens, our government, and our industry through cyber-attacks.

Sontiq

Sontiq

Sontiq is committed to providing best-in-class, highly scalable, award-winning identity security solutions to consumers, businesses and government agencies.

NetHope

NetHope

NetHope is a membership-based organization serving the international nonprofit humanitarian, development, and conservation sector through digital transformation.

Lasso Security

Lasso Security

Lasso Security is a pioneer cybersecurity company ensuring comprehensive protection for businesses leveraging generative AI and other large language model technologies.

Clumio

Clumio

Clumio provides autonomous backup and recovery for critical cloud data.

CYNC Secure

CYNC Secure

CYNC boosts cybersecurity remediation by consolidating fragmented data and optimizing operational processes.