1. Defensive Terrain in Cyberspace Thomas Pingel January 31, 2002 Advisor: Sara Fabrikant Committee?

2. Agenda  Try to take over the world.

3. Agenda For Today’s Talk  Explain research question and rationale  Assuage your fears  Discuss Methods

4. Research Questions  How does the spatial arrangement of a computer network impact its security properties?  How do such arrangements compare with human defense strategies that rely on control of territory?  What explains the similarities and differences?

5. Rationale  Networks have a path/node structure  Different spatial arrangements  Spatial patterns affect data flows  Current network defense includes – Segmentation – Isolation – control over information flows  Similarity to human defense strategies of territory

6. What Is the Role of Geography?  Historical ties to analyzing how the medium of conflict impacts the outcome of contests of force – terrain analysis, Global politics, military geography  Heavy use of language of physical security – Firewalls, bastion hosts, choke points  Computer networks – geographic space – topology – Spatial analysis of that topology  Visualizations

7. Compare to Physical Security  Sources – Geography (O’Sullivan) – U.S. Army (FM 5-33) – historical records of battles  Identify – Obstacles – Cover – Concealment  Game simulations as a model  Comparison to spatial games – Chess & Go

8. Defensive Terrain in Cyberspace Is it Terrain, Is it Like Terrain, and What Difference Does It Make?  Oxford English Dictionary says:  2a. A tract of country considered with regard to its natural features, configuration, etc.;  … in military use esp. as affecting its tactical advantages, fitness for maneuvering, etc.  So…  Terrain is the irregularity and configuration of the medium

9. Defensive Terrain in Cyberspace Is it Terrain, Is it Like Terrain, and What Difference Does It Make?  U.S. Army explicitly calls its network defenses “cyberterrain” (and they should know).  The network topology affects how movement occurs; it is a medium of conflict.  It is a terrain. The question is, do the network medium and earth medium influence the use of force in similar ways?

10. An Example: The Game of Risk  Risk is a strategic board game  6 populated continents divided into 42 territories  Armies occupy territories  Each territory can attack only adjacent territories  Spatial distribution of territories and troops affects the outcome of the game

11. Standard Risk Board

12. Occupied Risk Board

13. Risk With Node/Link Structure

14. Risk Topology

15. ARPANET, 1969 &1977

16. Internet 1999

17. Literature Review – Putting The Pieces Together  An interdisciplinary project – Time to absorb more disciplines!  Geography – spatial & network analysis – historical involvement in security design – terrain analysis  Computer Science – technical knowledge – resources for network simulation and testing – theoretical research in computer security  Other – Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, …

18. Methods  Gather data – Obstacle behavior – Cover and concealment  Evaluate – Compare terrain with security information  Compare – military geography

19. Methods: Obstacles  Data Source – A 16 host network test bed – Record of network based attacks on routers with complete traffic records  Analyze traffic records with GIS network analysis (and other?) techniques.

20. Methods: Cover and Concealment  Data Source – A real, working network – Use of intrusion detection and port scanning software  Looking for a measure of visibility of a host as well as intrusion data  Difficulty looking for volunteer network due to sensitive information.

21. Thanks for Listening I hope you enjoyed it