The principal technical objective in this project is to showthe feasibility of building tools to support the formal verification of mathematical software. no existing verification environment supports proof of correctness of programs executing over the data structure of the real number system. there… More

Ora proposes to apply recent advances to sublanguage research to the description of command and control "jargons" for data base query systems. an initial linguistic study of several jargons will allow identification of the of the most tractable sublanguage, one of which will be singled out to plan a… More

The innovation described in this proposal is the design of graphical displays for multimedia network management tailored to navy requirements. these displays are designed to answer questions concerning the network's status that the navy network operator formulates in the process of managing the… More

We propose to build an automated formal verification system for programs written in the c programming language. this system will support verification of programs that include unix system calls, including those which make possible concurrent execution, such as fork and pipe. it will also support… More

The goal of the project is to develop a formally verified design for a multilevel secure, distributed, fault tolerant reference monitor. a reference monitor is a system program which controls access of user processes to sensitive data. the reference monitor checks accesses for compliance with a… More

This project will investigate an intermediate formal language for integrating formal verification tools. such a language would allow different tools such as theorem provers, decision procedures, and formula generators to be used in the same environment, either by translating the various tools'… More

The goal of this project is to create tools to support the formal verification of VHDL designs. Two existing formal verification tools will be enhanced to support VHDL. The first, Spectool, will allow a class of designs, the synchronous finite-state controlled systems, to be specified and verified… More

Existing commercial modeling and simulation software packages do not adequately predict the behavior of complex computer-controlled systems being developed and fielded today. these "hybrid" systems involve discontinuous phenomena such as mechanical parts engaging and disengaging (e.g., spacecraft… More

We propose to build a set of mathematically-based semantic analysis tools for VHLD. These lightweight tools will meet the following goals:

This project will define and develop specification techniques for hardware designs eventually targeted for VHDL implementation. The specification techniques may be graphical or textual and will interface with the Larch/VHDL verification system. The specification techniques will be based on… More

Classical access control and security models are inadequate for the health care domain. Our innovation for Phase I is to produce a security reference model for workflow based on clinical requirements and realistic hospital scenarios. This model will also incorporate important features such as the… More

Formal methods techniques have the promise to help reduce or eliminate certain kinds of errors in the design and implementation of software-controlled systems, yet they are greatly underused. Among the reasons: most tool support for formal methods is unnecessarily difficult to use; and the research… More

In this research proposal, we seek to develop two key technologies that will advance the state-of-the-art in security engineering. First we wish to develop a Secure Component Integration Protocol (SCIP) that will allow a message-based, protocol-driven approach to integration and interoperability of… More

Not Available Q-DOT proposes to develop a miniature oscillator MINO) in a small (0.2 x 0.2 x 0.5 ), PCMCIA-card-compatible module. The MINO will oscillate at a frequency in the range of 1-10 GH (nominally 6Ghz). The MINO is specifically designed to drive high performance analog-to-digital… More

In a large computer network, a sophisticated, coordinated attack can have a devastating impact. To thwart the effectiveness of such an attack, investigators and administrators must be able to quickly understand what resources were affected and how theywere affected. Complicating this task is the… More

Maliciously constructed boot firmware is a threat to our information infrastructure that has largely been ignored. Boot firmware controls the power-up procedure initializing a computer's hardware and loading its run-time system. This code, embedded inall third-party peripheral devices, can easily… More

Maliciously constructed boot firmware is a threat to our information infrastructure that has largely been ignored. Boot firmware controls the power-up procedure initializing a computer's hardware and loading its run-time system. This code, embedded inall third-party peripheral devices, can easily… More

Conventional methods of quality assurance cannot manage the increasing complexity of embedded systems and the demands being placed upon them. Aspect-Oriented Programming is a promising new software technology, well suited to embedded systems. MarryingAOP with formal methods will make possible high… More

"In a large computer network, a sophisticated, coordinated attack can have a devastating impact. To thwart such an attack, investigators and administrators must be able to quickly ascertain its effects. Complicating this task is the fact that few largefacilities, either commercial or military,… More

"The Air Force's Joint Battlespace Infosphere (JBI) requires a secure, scalable, object repository to support the vision of a globally accessible, secure, distributed information "space." Peer-to-peer (P2P) technology holds significant promise for theselarge-scale information repositories because of… More

"Current techniques for defining and specifying quantum algorithms are imprecise and to some degree informal, which causes a number of problems: informal descriptions can be ambiguous and difficult to understand, cannot be supported by automated tools (forcomputer algebra, simulation, etc.), and… More

"The combination of inherent insecurity of wireless networks (signals radiating further than the intended coverage area) and weaknesses in the current security mechanisms are weighing heavily against this highly valuable network technology. Thus, wirelessnetworks on military bases and on board Navy… More

The Joint Battlespace Infosphere (JBI) program needs an object repository for secure, reliable storage and retrieval of JBI objects. ATC-NY will construct ORIS, a peer-to-peer object repository suitable for the JBI. Self-organizing peer-to-peer networkshave proven to be robust and scalable to very… More

A crucial component of the Joint Battlespace Infosphere (JBI) is a collection of fuselets, which are simple programs or scripts that effect small transformations on data. The global effect of a collection of cooperating fuselets is to transform data intoknowledge. We will create an environment for… More

Theoretical research on asynchronous circuits has provided top﷓down methods that start from an operational description of a circuit. Top-down methods avoid the difficulty of understanding (let alone verifying) the behavior of compositions ofasynchronous components. In practice, however,… More

Our nation's infrastructure is under increasing threat of criminal and terrorist cyber attacks, which can come without warning and cause great harm. There are numerous countermeasures we can take once we detect an attack, but as long as our responses aredefensive and reactionary in character, we… More

Sophisticated attacks on computer systems typically proceed in stages. The attacker first probes the target site to discover its vulnerabilities, and then exploits the vulnerabilities. To avoid detection, attacks can be spread out over time or be launchedfrom multiple hosts. An attacker who has… More

Sophisticated attacks on computer systems typically proceed in stages. The attacker first probes the target site to discover its vulnerabilities, and then exploits the vulnerabilities. To avoid detection, attacks can be spread out over time or be launchedfrom multiple hosts. An attacker who has… More

Systems that integrate and present data from multiple sources often ignore the probabilistic uncertain nature of the information they are handling. Such systems are often designed with pre-determined thresholds or other algorithms to make binary go/no-godecisions, rather than presenting the entire… More

Software theft causes tremendous financial losses to software companies. Theft of trade secrets and critical national security information embedded in software can lead to further financial losses or even jeopardize national security. Various techniqueshave been developed to protect software after… More

Adding protection to fielded software provides an attacker with a point of leverage: By comparing the original code (or executable) with the updated version, an attacker may be able to locate the

A crucial component of the Joint Battlespace Infosphere (JBI) is a collection of cooperating fuselets, simple programs or scripts that effect small transformations on data, thus transforming data into knowledge. Based on successful Phase I accomplishments, ATC-NY, in collaboration with Architecture… More

Distributed systems, important to civilian and military infrastucture, have steadily become more complex and steadily more difficult to understand, implement, and maintain. Addressing these dangers, a collaboration between ATC-NY and Cornell University will build a mathematically based tool, … More

To meet the demand for more "intelligent" applications-in web services, enterprise software, network management, etc.-developers are turning to the AI technique of rule-based programming. But the very things that make rule-based programming attractive-its flexibility, its introduction of complex and… More

Testing accounts for a large and growing share of software development costs. Developing tests is labor-intensive; and significant savings would result from tools that could automatically generate tests meeting some given criterion of completeness. ATC-NY proposes to build a set of modules, Tiger,… More

Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology provides high-speed, low-power wireless networks with a low probability of detection and interception, and is resistant to jamming. This promising technology lacks support above the physical layer to provide capabilities that the Army requires for intra-vehicle… More

The Principle of Least Privilege says that programs should operate with sufficient privilege to get the job done, but no more, in order to minimize the harm that can be done in case of error. The Empirical Privilege Profiling system (EPP) will collect data about privileges actually exercised by… More

The Transparent Software Protection Infrastructure (TSPI) is a collection of software modules that enhance software protection during the software development process. TSPI uses wrapper technology to provide a layer between COTS development systems and the file system. It provides security to… More

ATC-NY and Bigwood Systems, Inc. will design and build Zebra, an innovative access control system for electric power SCADA systems. Access control decisions will depend on the dynamic state of the electric transmission/distribution system, in addition to conventional inputs such as identity. We will… More

Warfighters need information that is both timely and trustworthy. New initiatives such as the Joint Battlespace Infosphere and Net-Centric Enterprise Services have the goal of getting "raw" information to the warfighter as quickly as possible. In order to assess the trustworthiness of such… More

As the level of conflict increases in the new battlefield of our nation's infosphere, the demand for better training of cyber security professionals is critical. In response, a small number of efforts have attempted to provide network defense training simulators to prepare students for real-world… More

Mission success requires accurate, timely, and relevant information to be available to decision makers and those taking action in the field. Too often, this information is not available because the needed systems do not interoperate, or because the end user doesn't have the software or access… More

To address the threat of malicious third party software modules, ATC-NY, Professor Dexter Kozen, Cornell University, and Architecture Technology Corporation, will create AESOP, a static analysis tool that automatically extracts a digest of the security-relevant behavior of a software module at… More

Software protection methods are needed in order to prevent the unauthorized distribution and exploitation of critical national security software. This proposal addresses software protection during the software development process, and in particular, the collection, analysis, and response mechanisms… More

The Joint Medical Asset Repository (JMAR) is being successfully used to track medical supplies in near-real-time, saving time, money, and lives. However, assets housed at a temporary emergency-response location, near the battlefield, or any other location without the proper installation, can not be… More

The Principle of Least Privilege says that programs should operate with sufficient privilege to get the job done, but no more, in order to minimize the harm that can be done in case of error. The Empirical Privilege Profiler system (EPP) will collect data about privileges actually exercised by… More

The number and sophistication of cyber attacks on our nation's computing resources has been increasing at an alarming rate. At stake are the compromise and loss of critical data and computational resources in the commercial, military, government, and academic sectors. Advanced training tools for… More

Warfighters need information that is both timely and trustworthy. New initiatives such as the Joint Battlespace Infosphere (JBI) and Net-Centric Enterprise Services (NCES) have the goal of getting both "raw" and processed information to the warfighter as quickly as possible. In order to assess the… More

The fast moving dynamics of future network centric warfare, i.e. changes in capability (significant gain or loss of infrastructure), changes in mission, changes in (coalition) partners and their roles, and responses to network attacks require the ability for rapid system reconfiguration. To avoid… More

To control the costs of software development of complex, critical military, government, and commercial applications, organizations are turning to outside specialty sub-contractors and COTS software. However, the uncertain pedigree of purchased software leads to the possible presence of exploitable… More

Full certification and testing of application programs provides a level of assurance that they will not harm host systems, but it takes a long time. For this reason, software users are often faced with a vexing dilemma: in order to obtain critical new functionality, they must use software that may… More

ATC-NY, in collaboration with Cornell University and Architecture Technology Corporation, will design and build Chipotle, a distributed XML database targeting the needs of the MDA, other DoD operations, and commercial applications. The Chipotle system will be highly resistant to failures, require… More

High-fidelity simulation environments using Distributed Mission Operations (DMO) may be attacked by enemies wishing to subvert the simulation performance and results. To detect, mitigate, and inoculate against such attacks, ATC-NY, in collaboration with Architecture Technology Corporation and… More

Modern Defense strategy and execution is increasingly net-centric and distributed, allowing for new information flows that cross system, domain, and community of interest boundaries. But these new data flows introduce security risk as sensitive information passes outside of the domain where it was… More

Complex applications are, increasingly, constructed by networking and integrating computer systems and services, each with its own stakeholders and security policy. Developers can find it difficult to understand how those policies mediate interactions among the component systems. Access decisions… More

The current UDDI standard does not support dynamic federation of registries in the Navy's disconnected and low bandwidth environment. To support these dynamic, multi-enclave federations while keeping security policies in place, ATC-NY, in collaboration with Architecture Technology Corporation, will… More

Communities of interest (COIs) are often established in response to emerging situations; the participants and their needs are fluid, and not completely known at the outset. Frequently, they include participants from different organizations, whose information systems are not integrated. Whether a… More

To mitigate the problem of obtaining potentially insecure software, ATC-NY, Architecture Technology Corporation, and Lockheed Martin are creating the EXploit And Malware INcubator (EXAMIN), a product designed to assist in the safe triggering and detection of malicious code in binaries. EXAMIN will… More

Pervasive networking provides ever-growing opportunities for collaboration among computer systems operating in different domains. These systems may "speak" in their own protocols and data formats; and determining whether two speak in compatible terms can be difficult. Since manual review is… More

ATC-NY, and collaborators from Cornell University, the US Naval Academy, and Architecture Technology Corporation, will design and build Chipotle, a distributed XML database targeting the needs of the MDA, other DoD operations, and organizations providing emergency services. The Chipotle system… More

Tactical military wireless networks present unique challenges. They must provide the capabilities of commercially available wireless networks-under radically different conditions. Nodes are very mobile and network topologies change often. Military networks cannot use commercially available… More

Upgrading a service in a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) can be costly and inefficient. ATC-NY, together with Architecture Technology Corporation, will develop WIRE (Web service Interface Revision Environment), a framework and toolset to efficiently manage version problems in a large distributed… More

Modern defense strategy and execution is increasingly net-centric and distributed, allowing for new information flows that cross system, domain, and community of interest boundaries. But these new data flows introduce security risks as sensitive information passes outside of the domain where it was… More

Distributed systems have become too complex to develop and maintain without the aid of mathematical techniques supported by automated tools. Abstraction has been the most reliable means for gaining intellectual control of such complexities. Over the past several years, ATC-NY and Cornell University… More

Digital forensics is the science of investigating digital devices, transmissions, and storage media to acquire legal evidence related to a crime. The discipline is essential in addressing rising cyber crime rates, and acting as a deterrent to insider threats by providing attribution. There is need… More

Upgrading a service in a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) can be costly and inefficient, especially since in SOA environments services typically depend on other services in a system-of-systems context. ATC-NY, together with Architecture Technology Corporation, will develop WIRE (Web service… More

Phishing is an increasing danger to the military and other organizations that must prevent information leakage. Targeted phishing (spear-phishing) and even regular phishing attempts evade regular spam detectors because phishing attacks are designed to loo

Universal Serial Bus (USB) devices such as thumb drives are commonly used to share information between computers and thus serve as vectors for attacks. For example, unsuspecting military personnel can easily carry malicious software or hardware into secure environments on USB thumb drives. Malicious… More

The military, government, and commercial enterprises are all vulnerable to the crime of cyber attack. Digital forensics is the science of investigating digital devices, transmissions, and storage media to acquire and analyze evidence related to an incident or crime with the goal of providing solid… More

Computing systems built on identical foundations (hardware, operating systems, etc.) will be vulnerable to the same attacks. To avoid widespread failures, techniques have been sought for introducing"synthetic diversity"into systems. The best studied are low level randomization… More

ABSTRACT: Despite existing security efforts, DoD networks are susceptible to attack and compromise. For critical missions, it is necessary to"fight through"cyber attacks in order to achieve mission objectives. Such a"survivable"network would be capable of carrying on (in a… More

ABSTRACT: Analysts must determine the proper response to an alert produced by an anomaly detection system. Currently, analysts must manually generate queries to other intelligence sources and then search by hand through the results to find evidence relevant to the alert. This is a slow and… More

Botnets and other large-scale malicious behaviors present a pervasive and evolving threat to cyber security. Stealth botnets and distributed, stealthy cyber attacks present a particular challenge to cyber defense because their malicious behavior is difficult to detect. State-of-the-art and… More

Universal Serial Bus (USB) devices such as thumb drives are commonly used to share information between computers. These innocuous-looking devices, however convenient, also serve as vectors for attacks. For example, unsuspecting military personnel can easily carry malicious software or hardware into… More

Solid-state storage media, particularly solid-state drives (SSDs), present new challenges to forensic investigation that need to be addressed. The lowlevel behavior of these drives is dramatically different than for mechanical hard disk drives-including what low-level data is available, how that… More

The protocols needed to coordinate the activities of distributed components, such as consensus algorithms, are notoriously difficult to design, implement, and verify. Abstraction is the only way to gain intellectual control over this complex problem; so ATC-NY and Cornell University have developed… More