鈥淢ost of our cyber defenses are modeled after medieval perimeter security 鈥� a firewall is much like a castle moat 鈥� and the idea of 鈥榢eeping the bad guys out鈥�,鈥� says Dr. Bruce M. McMillin, professor of computer science and associate dean of the College of Engineering and Computing at Missouri S&T. 鈥淲e live inside modern systems that are both physical and computational, and, in such a smart living environment, attacks can come from multiple different sources, some even inside what we consider protected.鈥�
Earlier this year, the head of U.S. Cyber Command told Congress that the federal government鈥檚 efforts to deter computer attacks are not working and the U.S. needs to 鈥渋ncrease our capacity鈥� to strengthen cyber security. At Missouri S&T, McMillin and other researchers are working to improve cyber security with an emphasis on safeguarding the nation鈥檚 infrastructure while educating students in this field through its National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education.
鈥淲e must focus on the information that both flows into and out of every portion of our smart living environment, both hiding what we consider security and private, and disrupting the ability of our adversaries to launch information attacks,鈥� McMillin says.
He adds that Missouri S&T provides 鈥渁 unique contribution to the information assurance field with our focus on developing ways to protect the nation鈥檚 electric power grid, oil, gas and water distribution systems; and transportation systems from terrorist attacks.鈥� Much of that research occurs through Missouri S&T鈥檚 Center for Critical Infrastructure Protection.
McMillin credits his former Ph.D. student, Gerry Howser, for coming up with the moat analogy to describe contemporary approaches to cyber defense. Howser is a career security expert who returned to Missouri S&T for a Ph.D. in computer science.McMillin also co-leads Missouri S&T鈥檚 Smart Living signature area. Smart Living focuses on developing processes and technology to turn home, workplace, transportation and energy systems into 鈥渟mart鈥� environments.
On March 19, Adm. Michael S. Rogers, the head of the U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the command鈥檚 efforts are not working. He pointed out that attackers to U.S. cyber infrastructure want to move beyond disrupting those networks to establish 鈥渁 persistent presence鈥� on them.
More recently, Dennis Blair, the former director of U.S. national intelligence, said that major sponsors of cyberwarfare forces are reaching a state of deterrence similar to the 鈥渕utually assured destruction鈥� of the Cold War era. Blair pointed out that military and civilian systems are often intertwined, and that a cyber attack could have far-reaching consequences. 鈥淪hould a nation-state take action against the GPS system in another country on a major scale, there鈥檚 no telling which way the damage would fall,鈥� he said.
In their research, McMillin and his fellow Smart Living researchers are also considering the interdependence of computerized systems and their vulnerabilities.
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