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Nebraska University Consortium on Information Assurance

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Current Events. CRA Grand Challenges 11/2003 ... Current Events. PITAC (2004) For example: ... Really not-so-current Events. The Anderson Report (1972) ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Nebraska University Consortium on Information Assurance


1
Nebraska University Consortium on Information
Assurance
  • An Overview of Hard Research Problems in Computer
    Security
  • Prepared for
  • eit2005
  • 23 May 2005
  • Blaine W. Burnham, PhD
  • Executive Director,
  • Nebraska University Consortium for Information
    Assurance,(NUCIA)
  • College of IST
  • Peter Kiewit Institute
  • University of Nebraska, Omaha

2
Hard Research Problems in Computer Security
  • Outline
  • Thems Fighting Words
  • History
  • Preamble
  • Agendas
  • Current Events
  • Not so Current Events
  • Really not-so-current Events
  • Funding
  • Hard Problems
  • Reflections
  • References

3
Hard Research Problems in Computer Security
  • Thems Fighting Words
  • We have virtually no research base on which to
    build truly secure systems. When funds are
    scarce, researchers become very conservative, and
    bold challenges to the conventional wisdom are
    not likely to pass peer review. As a result
    incrementalism has become the norm
  • Wm. A. Wulf. President, National Academy
    of Engineering

4
Hard Research Problems in Computer Security
  • History
  • The Ware Report
  • The Anderson Report
  • Research Program
  • We will come back to tthis
  • Saltzer-Schroeder 1975
  • 100 References
  • Its not like we have not ever done good research

5
Hard Research Problems in Computer Security
  • Preamble
  • Considerable research being done, However,
    there is a problem
  • The conference Story
  • So we are faced with and interesting dilemma
  • What is needed, interesting, important research
  • What is relearning the forgotten past
  • What is reinvention of the past
  • We will see some of this as we move forward
  • A question that needs to be always be up front.
  • Suppose you had it 100 are you closer to
    building secure systems?

6
Hard Research Problems in Computer Security
Research Agendas / needs are all over the place
  • 1998 NSF CIP workshop
  • 1998 NSF/ONR Workshops
  • Computer Security, Dependability
  • and Assurance, see
  • www.isse.gmu.edu/csis/conf/fns98
  • 1999 Infosec Research Council
  • INFOSEC Hard Problems List
  • www.infosec-research.org/
  • docs_public/
  • 1999 NRC (DARPA/NSA) - Trust
  • in Cyberspace
  • http//www.nap.edu/books/0309065
  • 585/html/index.html
  • 2001 NITRD HCSS-CG report
  • http//www.hpcc.gov/pubs/hcssresearch.
  • 2002 CERIAS/Accenture
  • Roadmap to Safer Wireless Worl
  • 2002 PL 105-307 topic list
  • 2002 NAS/CSTB IT for
  • Counterterrorism www.nap.edu
  • 2003 I3P Research Agenda
  • 2003 NSTAC RD Exchange
  • 2003 NITRD LSN/NRT
  • workshop on scalable cybersecurity
  • 2003 CRA Conference on "Grand
  • Research Challenges in Information
  • Security Assurance

7
Hard Research Problems in Computer Security
  • Current Events
  • CRA Grand Challenges 11/2003
  • Eliminate epidemic - style attacks within 10
    years
  • Viruses and worms
  • SPAM
  • Denial of Service attacks (DOS)
  • Develop tools and principles that allow
    construction of large-scale systems for important
    societal applications thatare highly trustworthy
    despite being attractive targets.
  • E-voting
  • Within 10 years, quantitative information-systems
    risk management is at least as good as
    quantitative financial risk management.
  • For the dynamic, pervasive computing environments
    of the future, give end users security they can
    understand and privacy they can control.

8
Hard Research Problems in Computer Security
  • Current Events
  • PITAC (2004)
  • Cyber Security A Crisis of Prioritization
  • Focus on Ten Specified Areas
  • Computer Authentication Methodologies
  • Securing Fundamental Protocols
  • Secure Software Engineering and Software
    Assurance
  • Holistic System Security
  • Monitoring and Detection
  • Mitigation and Recovery Methodologies
  • Cyber Forensics and Technology to Enable
    Prosecution of Criminals
  • Modeling and Testbeds for New Technologies
  • Metrics, Benchmarks, and Best Practices
  • Societal and Governance Issues
  • Each of these is expanded into specifics (More
    Next)
  • Noted that the Nations Cyber Security Research
    Community is too small to support the need
  • Recommended a 90m plus up to NSF

9
Hard Research Problems in Computer Security
  • Current Events
  • PITAC (2004)
  • For example
  • Cyber Forensics and Technology to Enable
    Prosecution of Criminals
  • Identifying the origin of cyber attacks,
    including traceback of network traffic.
  • Secure Software Engineering and Software
    Assurance
  • Programming languages and systems that include
    fundamental security features
  • The discussion of the Buffer Overflow
  • Root vulnerability for 50-85 of attacks
  • ?C (and its red-headed stepchild, C) is
    inherently unsafe
  • Securing Fundamental Protocols
  • What is the science of protocols?
  • Notice Anything??

10
Hard Research Problems in Computer Security
  • Current Events
  • High Confidence Software and Systems Research
    Needs. (2001)
  • Foundations
  • Create the Science necessary to repeatably
    construct high confidence systems as needed.
  • Note high confidence and secure may not be the
    same thing
  • The composition problem
  • Policy, Operation and Assurance
  • The Decomposition Problem
  • Tools and Techniques
  • Manage Complexity
  • Encapsulation and interface
  • Error reduced complied code
  • Do what I mean not what I said
  • On the other hand why cannot compliers catch
    bounds checking errors
  • Building Blocks
  • Better COTS
  • Robust System Design
  • Design checkers
  • Help with correct design.

11
Hard Research Problems in Computer Security
  • Not so Current Events
  • Trust in CyberSpace (1999)
  • Didnt list the problems
  • Identification and Authentication in the large
  • Foreign Code verse Trust
  • The Problem of the Trojan Horse
  • Hardware
  • Minimum Essential Infrastructure
  • What could be shed and what happens to the policy
    and the operational capability
  • Fly-by-wire is and interesting case in point
  • The Economic and Public Policy Perspective
  • Why dont we have better stuff in the
    marketplace?

12
Hard Research Problems in Computer Security
  • Not so Current Events
  • Defense Science Board (1996)
  • Research recommendations
  • System architectures that degrade gracefully and
    are resilient to failures or attacks directed at
    single components
  • Methods for modeling, monitoring, and managing
    large-scale distributed systems
  • Tools and techniques for automated detection and
    analysis of localized or coordinated large-scale
    attacks
  • Tools and methods for predicting anticipated
    performance of survivable distributed systems

13
Hard Research Problems in Computer Security
  • Not so Current Events
  • Computers at Risk (1991)
  • The Research recommendations
  • Generally accepted Security System Principles
  • Create a repository of data about incidents
  • Education in practice, ethics and engineering o
    secure systems.
  • Establishment of a new institution to implement
    these recommendations.
  • This last on turned out to be sort of a poison
    pill.
  • Observes that university-based research in
    computer security was at a dangerously low level

14
Hard Research Problems in Computer Security
  • Really not-so-current Events
  • The Anderson Report (1972)
  • Defines the Threat The Maliciouis User running
    his code on my machine
  • Defines the problem Systems not designed to be
    secure
  • States the Requirements
  • An adequate systems access control mechanism
  • An authorization mechanism
  • Controlled Execution of a users program
  • Postulates a Solution
  • The Reference Monitor
  • Lays out a 6 year research agenda that includes
  • Design, architect, implement, certify, test and
    move to procurement of the RM
  • Handbook of Computer Security
  • Write down what we know
  • Develop Secure Peripherals
  • Encrypted communications
  • Crypto Concentrators
  • Encrypted File System
  • Security aware Applications (DBMS)

15
Hard Research Problems in Computer Security
  • Funding
  • An interesting perspective about the numbers

16
Hard Research Problems in Computer Security
  • Funding
  • The Reality Simply put, the funding situation is
    grim / bleak / harsh
  • Todays Rough Numbers
  • NSF 37m (04) for research grants
  • DHS 18m (04)
  • DARPA 5m (04)
  • NIST whole cyber security budget 10m
  • Other Hard to tell. Tends to be very focused
    on particular problem

17
Hard Research Problems in Computer Security
  • So what are some of the hard problems
  • Secure Design this is now mostly art. We need
    to have a science
  • Compare to Civil Engineering
  • Design to Implementation How to be sure you get
    what you design
  • What is the difference between and easter egg
    and a Trojan Horse
  • Policy based components with consistent, well
    understood interfaces
  • We have a flood of security stuff of
    questionable worth and dubious pedigree not
    helpful
  • The Composition Problem
  • Need to understand how to reason about the whole
    on the basis of the attributes of the parts

18
Hard Research Problems in Computer Security
  • So what are some of the hard problems
  • Application Security
  • Something of an oxymoron actually we need
    security aware applications not quite the same as
    policy enforcing applications but we need these
    as well.
  • Metrics
  • There is not much here at all. How do you
    determine whether what you are building is
    adequate. This is very tricky. We do not have a
    design base accident. In fact we do not have a
    accident context. Our context is that of the
    malicious threat that is studying and learning
    about me.
  • Assurance
  • The basis for the belief that the system will
    behave as expected.
  • Need high assurance COTS technology
  • Security of Foreign and Mobile Code
  • Actually need this for all code and the hardware
    not just foreign and mobile

19
Hard Research Problems in Computer Security
  • Reflections
  • A series of hard-won scientific advances gives
    us the ability to field systems having verifiable
    protection ,and an understanding of how to
    powerfully leverage verifiable protection to meet
    pressing system security needs. Yet, we as a
    community lack the discipline, tenacity and will
    to do the hard work to effectively deploy such
    systems. Instead, we pursue pseudoscience and
    flying pigs. In summary, the state of the science
    in computer and network security is strong, but
    it suffers unconscionable neglect.
  • Roger Schell
  • Information Security Science, Pseudoscience,
    and Flying Pigs

20
Hard Research Problems in Computer Security
  • References
  • The Ware Report
  • http//www.rand.org/publications/R/R609.1/R609.1.h
    tml
  • The Anderson Report
  • http//csrc.nist.gov/publications/history/ande72.p
    df
  • SS 1975
  • http//web.mit.edu/Saltzer/www/publications/protec
    tion/
  • Pitac Report
  • http//www.hpcc.gov/pitac/reports/20050301_cyberse
    curity/cybersecurity.pdf
  • Computers at Risk
  • http//www.nap.edu/openbook/0309043883/html/
  • Trust in Cyberspace
  • http//www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/trust/
  • Security Engineering
  • http//www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/rja14/
  • Information Security Science, Pseudoscience, and
    Flying Pigs
  • http//www.acsac.org/invited-essay/essays/2001-sch
    ell.html
  • Make your software behave Learning the basics of
    buffer overflows
  • http//www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/library/s-ov
    erflows/index.html
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