IBM

IBM is joining forces with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to protect the nation's civilian aviation system from the ever-growing threat of cyberattacks. They are working on building a prototype security system capable of protecting the vast amount of information flowing daily through the FAA's computer networks.

This project will introduce first-of-a-kind security analytics technology, said Josyula Rao, senior manager, secure software and services, at IBM's Watson Research Center. Rao is the research leader on the research and development project.

"This project could play an important role in addressing the growing cybersecurity threat -- threats that are constantly on the rise," Rao told TechNewsWorld.
New Approach to Protecting Data

The analytics technology is a new approach to protecting large digital infrastructures from hacking, botnets, malware and a whole host of other forms of cyberattacks. It is designed to protect both data at rest, that is, computer files that are not often updated, and data in motion -- files that move rapidly throughout the system, Rao explained.

There is not usually enough storage space available in such a large computer network to analyze the data in motion. "It's like drinking out of a fire hose," Rao said. "You need to have the ability to process it without storing it."

With data at rest, the goal is to learn from it, Rao said. Therefore, the system is designed to look back at event occurrences and system compromises. It will also be able to correlate historical traffic patterns with dynamic data from monitors, sensors and other devices capturing information about network traffic and user activity in real-time.

The FAA will also be able to store real-time results in a data warehouse, Rao said. This will allow for security experts to go back and analyze the data and learn from it.