root9B Announces Security Effort with United States Air Force Academy

The best work, traditionally, in counterintelligence has of course come from military efforts during war time. Well, not any more. Now, private firms looking to keep secrets safe from competitors and rivals are trying (with varying levels of success) to develop protocols that would make Enigma look like a child’s puzzle.

Of course, if the source code they’re using comes with built-in holes, they’re pretty much out of luck on that score. I’m looking at you, SSH.

Looking at getting back into the game is the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA), with a recently announced initiative to bring some new thunder. root9B, provider of advanced cybersecurity products, services, and training for commercial and government clients, has now announced a collaborative effort with the USAFA to develop effective Intrusion Detection Tools for Industrial Control Systems (ICS).

Working with USAFA, root9B will advance the overall body of knowledge needed to effectively design, configure, and conduct ICS Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (IDS/IPS) evaluations. To achieve this objective, root9B is helping USAFA establish an interdisciplinary research team of USAFA faculty, cadets, and root9B personnel to recognize and protect ICS systems from malicious threats. root9B plans to mentor cadets on research designed to evaluate ICS IDS/IPS capabilities that are currently beyond the capabilities of today's industry.

“By improving IDS/IPS assessments, we are improving the overall IDS/IPS R&D process,” said Earl Eiland, Senior Cybersecurity Engineering and ICS expert, root9B. “By extension, ICS system attack resistance and mission assurance are increased. Our work with The Air Force Academy will help identify and mitigate malicious attacks that corrupt military, industrial, or commercial infrastructure, thereby averting costly and potentially life threatening system and critical mission failures.”

Let’s hope the USAFA gets government back into the game with some IoT muscle, because the industry, sad to say, doesn’t really seem to be taking any of this seriously enough.