Page 11 - Cyber Warnings

GREMLIN NETWORKS
The Much Needed Evolution of IP

Jeff Hussey, CEO, Tempered Networks

When was the last time you saw someone cruising to work in a Gremlin? Unless it was a movie
character, we’re guessing it wasn’t very recently. The AMC Gremlin, which launched in 1970,
has achieved cult-like status among car collectors, but you’re not likely to see one on the roads
today. What if I told you that the language powering most of our Internet communications today
is the technology equivalent of the Gremlin? Because that’s what it really is.

Four Score and Seven Years Ago

The protocol we’re using today to power global commerce over the Internet was developed
almost 50 years ago. Development efforts in the late 1960s and early 1970s created the TCP/IP
protocol, which was originally designed to allow smaller local networks communicate between
short distances in ways they had never before. However, at the time of its inception, reliability
was the only concern as the idea of security was a man with a machine gun guarding the
facility. Despite being an incredible development, we are left with a protocol that is incredibly
reliable, yet inherently unsecure as trusted identities were not part of the design. This has led to
today’s environment, where components are bolted on for security, rather than baked in from
the start. And, given the number of data breaches we see in the headlines, we can all see how
that’s working out.

Cyber Kill Chain

Federal agencies have to find new solutions to the problems our existing security solutions can’t
handle. Current solutions involve huge amounts of operational complexity and require an ever-
increasing number of IT staff to maintain. In many military environments (and even in many
civilian ones), staff with the specialized expertise is tough to come by. To combat the increasing
amount of security threats, a new approach to securing critical infrastructure and assets is
needed, which targets attackers’ processes and can quickly scale to greater levels while being
managed by non-IT personnel.

Understanding the phases of a cyber attack helps clarify why a new security protocol is
necessary. The “kill chain” model is one that’s familiar to most readers, and one that can be
applied to cyber threats as one of the advanced persistent threats (APTs) defense personnel
must manage:

Today’s hackers, like any other adversaries, begin their attacks with the recon phase. That’s
often the most efficient and effective place to stop an attack. Assets protected by our solution

11 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – May 2016 Edition
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