[Infowarrior] - DARPA Unveils Cyber Warfare Range

[Richard Forno]

DARPA Unveils Cyber Warfare Range
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/DARP12308.xml&headline=DARPA%20Unveils%20Cyber%20Warfare%20Range
Dec 30, 2008

By David A. Fulghum/AviationWeek.com
Cyber weapon researchers worry that pieces of the digital warfare  
puzzle are still missing, in particular projection of new threats that  
foes may throw at the U.S. But U.S. Defense Department researchers may  
have an answer in the form of a new proving grounds of sorts.

"Who's looking at what's coming next?" asks Rance Walleston, director  
of BAE Systems' Information Operations Initiative. "That's still weak."

Already, "we are seeing the threats shifting," says Aaron Penkacik,  
director of BAE Systems' Collaborative Technology Alliance that works  
with small companies and universities around the world to create and  
developed specialized materials and technologies. "As you go into a  
new theater of operations, you see [advanced communications and new  
uses for networks] pop-up everywhere. The threat is there, ad-hoc,  
undefined and asymmetric. So you have to stand up your capability  
quickly to defend and fight your networks."

The BAE executive says the ramifications are already playing out in  
real ways. "It's changing the way we think about deploying software- 
defined radios," he says by way of example. "We're using common  
modules that have software functions that are adaptable in real time  
as the threat changes."

And today, as there are specialized test ranges for all types of  
radars and weapons, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency  
(DARPA) has funded a new program called the National Cyber Range. So  
far they've awarded a six-month, paid proposal phase contract to a  
number of contractors.

"They're going to build an environment where we can play around and  
begin looking at 'anticipated' problems," Walleston says. "What's  
they're saying is that we need the equivalent of a White Sands  
[Missile Range] for cyber war. We have bits and pieces of range all  
over the place, but nothing definitive. This will be [the premier]  
cyber range where you can bring all your tools and techniques and try  
them out in an environment that closely resembles the real world."

So what are the basic requirements for a cyber warfare range?

"We want to change cyber attack from an art to a science," Walleston  
says. "You need [lots of] real estate, isolation and an infrastructure  
that can be attacked and that will record precisely the results.  
Isolation is a big deal because that's the only way you can determine  
if some software agent you built works.

"It's hard to know what you are actually going to get from a test in a  
laboratory against five computers when the capability you need has to  
function against five million computers," he continues. "There's  
nowhere to test that, so DARPA's trying to put together a range with  
fidelity in many dimensions — such as the number and types of nodes  
and how they're connected — so that you can accurately determine the  
effectiveness of some tool. The real trick will be how quickly you can  
upgrade the range to deal with changing threats."

Photo: Wikipedia