[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 8 (Wednesday, January 12, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2151-2152]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-522]


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NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION


Assumption Buster Workshop: Defense-in-Depth is a Smart 
Investment for Cyber Security

AGENCY: The National Coordination Office (NCO) for the Networking and 
Information Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Program.

ACTION: Call for participation.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: [email protected]

DATES: Workshop: March 22, 2011; Deadline: February 10, 2011. Apply via 
e-mail to [email protected].
SUMMARY: The NCO, on behalf of the Special Cyber Operations Research 
and Engineering (SCORE) Committee, an interagency working group that 
coordinates cyber security research activities in support of national 
security systems, is seeking expert participants in a day-long workshop 
on the pros and cons of the defense-in-depth strategy for cyber 
security. The workshop will be held March 22, 2011 in the Washington DC 
area. Applications will be accepted until 5 p.m. EST February 10, 2011. 
Accepted participants will be notified by February 28, 2011.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Overview: This notice is issued by the 
National Coordination Office for the Networking and Information 
Technology Research and Development (NITRD) Program on behalf of the 
SCORE Committee.
    Background: There is a strong and often repeated call for research 
to provide novel cyber security solutions. The rhetoric of this call is 
to elicit new solutions that are radically different from existing 
solutions. Continuing research that achieves only incremental 
improvements is a losing proposition. We are lagging behind and need 
technological leaps to get, and keep, ahead of adversaries who are 
themselves rapidly improving attack technology. To answer this call, we 
must examine the key assumptions that underlie current security 
architectures. Challenging those assumptions both opens up the 
possibilities for novel solutions that are rooted in a fundamentally 
different understanding of the problem and provides an even stronger 
basis for moving forward on those assumptions that are well-founded. 
The SCORE Committee is conducting a series of four

[[Page 2152]]

workshops to begin the assumption buster process. The assumptions that 
underlie this series are that cyber space is an adversarial domain, 
that the adversary is tenacious, clever, and capable, and that re-
examining cyber security solutions in the context of these assumptions 
will result in key insights that will lead to the novel solutions we 
desperately need. To ensure that our discussion has the requisite 
adversarial flavor, we are inviting researchers who develop solutions 
of the type under discussion, and researchers who exploit these 
solutions. The goal is to engage in robust debate of topics generally 
believed to be true to determine to what extent that claim is 
warranted. The adversarial nature of these debates is meant to ensure 
the threat environment is reflected in the discussion in order to 
elicit innovative research concepts that will have a greater chance of 
having a sustained positive impact on our cyber security posture.
    The first topic to be explored in this series is ``Defense-in-depth 
is a Smart Investment.'' The workshop on this topic will be held in the 
Washington, DC area on March 22, 2011.
    Assertion: ``Defense-in-Depth is a smart investment because it 
provides an environment in which we can safely and securely conduct 
computing functions and achieve mission success.''
    This assertion reflects a commonly held viewpoint that Defense-in-
Depth is a smart investment for achieving perfect safety/security in 
computing. To analyze this statement we must look at it from two 
perspectives. First, we need to determine how the cyber security 
community developed confidence in Defense-in-Depth despite mounting 
evidence of its limitations, and second, we must look at the mechanisms 
in place to evaluate the cost/benefit of implementing Defense-in-Depth 
that layers mechanisms of uncertain effectiveness.
    Initially developed by the military for perimeter protection, 
Defense-in-Depth was adopted by the National Security Agency (NSA) for 
main-frame computer system protection. The Defense-in-Depth strategy 
was designed to provide multiple layers of security mechanisms focusing 
on people, technology, and operations (including physical security) in 
order to achieve robust information assurance (IA).\1\ Today's highly 
networked computing environments, however, have significantly changed 
the cyber security calculus, and Defense-in-Depth has struggled to keep 
pace with change. Over time, it became evident that Defense-in-depth 
failed to provide information assurance against all but the most 
elementary threats, in the process putting at risk mission essential 
functions. The 2009 White House Cyberspace Policy Review called for 
``changes in technology'' to protect cyberspace, and the 2010 DHS DOD 
MOA sought to ``aid in preventing, detecting, mitigating and recovering 
from the effects of an attack'', suggesting a new dimension for 
Defense-in-depth along the lifecycle of an attack.
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    \1\ Defense-in-depth: A practical strategy for achieving 
Information Assurance in today's highly networked environments.
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    Defense-in-Depth can provide robust information assurance 
properties if implemented along multiple dimensions; however, we must 
consider whether layers of sometimes ineffective defense tools may 
result in delaying potential compromise without providing any guarantee 
that compromise will be completely prevented. In today's highly 
networked world, Defense-in-Depth may best be viewed as a practical way 
to defer harm rather than a means to security. It is worth considering 
whether the Defense-in-Depth strategy tends to contribute more to 
network survivability than it does to mission assurance.
    Intrusions into DoD and other information systems over the past 
decade provide ample evidence that Defense-in-Depth provides no 
significant barrier to sophisticated, motivated, and determined 
adversaries given those adversaries can structure their attacks to pass 
through all the layers of defensive measures. In the meantime, kinetic 
Defense-in-Depth of weapons platforms (such as aircraft) evolved into a 
life-cycle strategy of stealth (prevent), radars (detect), jammers and 
chaff (mitigate), fire extinguishers (survive) and parachutes 
(recover), a strategy that could provide value in the cyber domain.

How to Apply

    If you would like to participate in this workshop, please submit 
(1) a resume or curriculum vita of no more than two pages which 
highlights your expertise in this area and (2) a one-page paper stating 
your opinion of the assertion and outlining your key thoughts on the 
topic. The workshop will accommodate no more than 60 participants, so 
these brief documents need to make a compelling case for your 
participation. Applications should be submitted to 
[email protected] no later than 5 p.m. EST on February 10, 
2011.

Selection and Notification

    The SCORE committee will select an expert group that reflects a 
broad range of opinions on the assertion. Accepted participants will be 
notified by e-mail no later than February 28, 2011. We cannot guarantee 
that we will contact individuals who are not selected, though we will 
attempt to do so unless the volume of responses is overwhelming.
    Submitted by the National Science Foundation for the National 
Coordination Office (NCO) for Networking and Information Technology 
Research and Development (NITRD) on January 7, 2011.

Suzanne H. Plimpton,
Reports Clearance Officer, National Science Foundation.
[FR Doc. 2011-522 Filed 1-11-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7555-01-P