New Predictive Approach Tries to Stay Ahead of Hackers

Researchers from both the military and academia are working together to protect computer networks, by trying to stay one step ahead of cyberspace intruders.

In an article on the EE Times website, Sheila Riley says the researchers from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), the University of Buffalo, and Pennsylvania State University are working with CUBRC, a Buffalo-based nonprofit research and development organization, and the U.S. Air Force.

“The researchers are looking at intrusion prediction, which uses mathematical models and algorithms to map out a hacker’s or attacker’s probable moves once they have broken into a network,” Riley says.

“We want to be one step ahead of them and predict what they are going to do,” Shanchieh Jay Yang, a computer engineering assistant professor at RIT, told Riley. “When they first get in, we try to observe what they are doing, and use that information to forecast their probable future actions.”

The goal of the research is to provide information about how an intruder will react to particular network defenses and architectures so administrators can reduce the damage they might do and better protect their systems.

But security specialists warned Riley that while the research might be worthwhile, it might also be of little use in a fast-changing network environment.