Homeland Open Security Technology

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Homeland Open Security Technology
Establishment2011
Sponsor Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate
Primary contractor Georgia Tech Research Institute
Other contractors Center for Agile Technology
Open Source Software Institute
Open Information Security Foundation
Website www.cyber.st.dhs.gov/host/

Homeland Open Security Technology (HOST) is a five-year, $10 million program by the Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate to promote the creation and use of open security and open-source software in the United States government and military, especially in areas pertaining to computer security. [1] [2] [3] [4]

United States Department of Homeland Security Cabinet department of the United States federal government

The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is a cabinet department of the U.S. federal government with responsibilities in public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terrorism, border security, immigration and customs, cyber security, and disaster prevention and management. It was created in November 2002 in response to 9/11 and is the youngest U.S. cabinet department.

Open security is the use of open source philosophies and methodologies to approach computer security and other information security challenges. Traditional application security is based on the premise that any application or service relies on security through obscurity.

Open-source software software licensed to ensure source code usage rights

Open-source software (OSS) is a type of computer software in which source code is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to study, change, and distribute the software to anyone and for any purpose. Open-source software may be developed in a collaborative public manner. Open-source software is a prominent example of open collaboration.

Contents

Proponent David A. Wheeler claims that open-source security could also extend to hardware and written documents. [5] [6] In October 2011, the project won the Open Source for America 2011 Government Deployment Open Source Award. [7]

Open Source for America consortium of various organizations established to advocate for and support the use of free and open-source software in the U.S. Federal government. It consists of various open source foundations, and companies, including GNOME, Mozilla, and Canonical. The organization consists of various committees and working groups, one of which is Mil-OSS.

Participants

The project is contracted to the Open Technology Research Consortium which consists of the Georgia Tech Research Institute (primary), the Center for Agile Technology at the University of Texas at Austin, the Open Source Software Institute, and the Open Information Security Foundation. [8] [9] [10] The project has contributed funding towards the OpenSSL Software Foundation and the Open Information Security Foundation. [11] [12]

The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is the nonprofit applied research arm of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. GTRI employs around 2,400 people, and is involved in approximately $600 million in research annually for more than 200 clients in industry and government.

The Center for Agile Technology (CAT) is an applied research unit of the University of Texas at Austin. Its director is David A. Brant.

University of Texas at Austin Public research university in Austin, Texas, United States

The University of Texas at Austin is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. The University of Texas was inducted into the Association of American Universities in 1929, becoming only the third university in the American South to be elected. The institution has the nation's eighth-largest single-campus enrollment, with over 50,000 undergraduate and graduate students and over 24,000 faculty and staff.

Events

In October 2012, HOST hosted the Open Cybersecurity Summit in Washington, D.C.; it was a one-day summit with a keynote by Stewart A. Baker, former Assistant Secretary for Policy of the Department of Homeland Security. [13] [14] [15]

Investments

Suricata (software) open source security software

Suricata is an open source-based intrusion detection system (IDS) and intrusion prevention system (IPS). It was developed by the Open Information Security Foundation (OISF). A beta version was released in December 2009, with the first standard release following in July 2010.

OpenSSL is a software library for applications that secure communications over computer networks against eavesdropping or need to identify the party at the other end. It is widely used by Internet servers, including the majority of HTTPS websites.

The Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) Publication 140-2,, is a U.S. government computer security standard used to approve cryptographic modules. The title is Security Requirements for Cryptographic Modules. Initial publication was on May 25, 2001 and was last updated December 3, 2002.

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Advanced Encryption Standard block cipher standard

The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), also known by its original name Rijndael, is a specification for the encryption of electronic data established by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2001.

National Cyber Security Division

The National Cyber Security Division (NCSD) is a division of the Office of Cyber Security & Communications, within the United States Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Formed from the Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office, the National Infrastructure Protection Center, the Federal Computer Incident Response Center, and the National Communications System, NCSD opened on June 6, 2003. The NCSD mission is to collaborate with the private sector, government, military, and intelligence stakeholders to conduct risk assessments and mitigate vulnerabilities and threats to information technology assets and activities affecting the operation of the civilian government and private sector critical cyber infrastructures. NCSD also provides cyber threat and vulnerability analysis, early warning, and incident response assistance for public and private sector constituents. NCSD carries out the majority of DHS’ responsibilities under the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative. The FY 2011 budget request for NCSD is $378.744 million and includes 342 federal positions. The current director of the NCSD is John Streufert, former chief information security officer (CISO) for the United States Department of State, who assumed the position in January 2012.

The Information and Communications Laboratory (ICL) is one of eight labs in the Georgia Tech Research Institute. Along with the GTRI Cyber Technology and Information Security Laboratory, it is part of the Information and Cyber Sciences directorate. It conducts a broad range of research in areas of computer science, information technology, communications, networking, and the development of commercial products from university research.

FalconView mapping software used for military mission planning as part of the Portable Flight Planning Software suite

FalconView is a mapping system created by the Georgia Tech Research Institute. It was initially developed for the Windows family of operating systems; however, versions for Linux and mobile operating systems are under development. It displays various types of maps and geographically referenced overlays. Many types of maps are supported, but the primary ones of interest to most users are aeronautical charts, satellite images and elevation maps. FalconView also supports a large number of overlay types that can be displayed over any map background. The current overlay set is targeted toward military mission planning users and is oriented towards aviators and aviation support personnel.

In computing, Network Security Services (NSS) comprises a set of libraries designed to support cross-platform development of security-enabled client and server applications with optional support for hardware TLS/SSL acceleration on the server side and hardware smart cards on the client side. NSS provides a complete open-source implementation of cryptographic libraries supporting Transport Layer Security (TLS) / Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and S/MIME. Previously tri-licensed under the Mozilla Public License 1.1, the GNU General Public License, and the GNU Lesser General Public License, NSS upgraded to GPL-compatible MPL 2.0 with release 3.14.

DHS Science and Technology Directorate component within the United States Department of Homeland Security

The Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) is a component within the United States Department of Homeland Security. DHS-S&T serves as the research and development arm of the Department as it fulfills its national security mission.

Stephen E. Cross American scientist

Stephen Edward Cross is the executive vice president for research (EVPR) at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), a position to which he was appointed in 2010. As EVPR, Cross coordinates research efforts among Georgia Tech's colleges, research units and faculty; and provides central administration for all research, economic development and related support units at Georgia Tech. This includes direct oversight of Georgia Tech's interdisciplinary research institutes, the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI), the Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2) and the Georgia Tech Research Corporation (GTRC).

The Open Source Software Institute is a U.S.-based 501(c)(6), non-profit organization whose mission is to promote the development and implementation of open-source software solutions within US Federal, state and municipal government agencies. OSSI was established in 2015 and has focused on strategic initiatives to promote the adoption of open source within US Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security.

The Cyber Technology and Information Security Laboratory (CTISL) is one of eight labs in the Georgia Tech Research Institute. It was created on October 1, 2010 and focuses on cyber security. Along with the GTRI Information and Communications Laboratory, it is part of the Information and Cyber Sciences directorate. GTRI CTISL is known for its commitment to Open Source Software It will feature existing business areas such as secure information systems and resilient command and control with emerging areas such as cyberwarfare. The laboratory will additionally be a part of the Georgia Tech Information Security Center.

Edward K. Reedy Director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute from 1998 to 2003

Edward K. Reedy was the director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) from 1998 to 2003, and correspondingly a vice president of the Georgia Institute of Technology. He first joined GTRI in 1970, and specialized in radar system development and electromagnetic scattering. Reedy held a variety of research and leadership positions within the organization, including the head of Research Operations and four years as associate director.

Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act was a proposed law in the United States which would allow for the sharing of Internet traffic information between the U.S. government and technology and manufacturing companies. The stated aim of the bill is to help the U.S. government investigate cyber threats and ensure the security of networks against cyberattacks.

National Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection Act of 2013

The National Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection Act of 2013 is a bill that would amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to conduct cybersecurity activities on behalf of the federal government and would codify the role of DHS in preventing and responding to cybersecurity incidents involving the Information Technology (IT) systems of federal civilian agencies and critical infrastructure in the United States.

Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act

The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act is a United States federal law designed to "improve cybersecurity in the United States through enhanced sharing of information about cybersecurity threats, and for other purposes". The law allows the sharing of Internet traffic information between the U.S. government and technology and manufacturing companies. The bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate on July 10, 2014, and passed in the Senate October 27, 2015. Opponents question CISA's value, believing it will move responsibility from private businesses to the government, thereby increasing vulnerability of personal private information, as well as dispersing personal private information across seven government agencies, including the NSA and local police.

George A. "Fred" Wright is the Associate Laboratory Director and Principal Research Engineer of the Cyber Technology and Information Security Laboratory (CTISL) at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. In 2008, Dr. Wright founded a cyber security incubator, which led to the formation of CTISL in 2010. Since its inception the “Cyber Lab” has seen explosive growth with nearly $80M in annual research awards and 300 people in 2017. The Lab focuses on development and integration of security technologies into Government and industry enterprises. His research has focused in a variety of technical areas, including cyber security, electronic warfare, communications systems, signal processing, signals intelligence, and radar systems. Wright is also an adjunct professor of computer science at Georgia Institute of Technology.

Dr. Phyllis Schneck is an American executive and cybersecurity professional. As of May 2017, she became the Managing Director at Promontory Financial Group. Schneck served in the Obama administration as Deputy Under Secretary for Cybersecurity and Communications for the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD), at the Department of Homeland Security.

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) was established on 16 November 2018 when President Donald Trump signed into law the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act of 2018. CISA is a standalone United States federal agency, an operational component under Department of Homeland Security (DHS) oversight. Its activities are a continuation of the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD).

References

  1. ↑ "Georgia Tech Research Institute Will Lead $10 Million Department of Homeland Security Open Cyber Security Initiative". Georgia Tech Research Institute . Retrieved 2011-10-14.
  2. ↑ "DHS, Georgia Tech seek to improve security with open-source tools". Government Computer News. 2011-07-01. Retrieved 2011-10-14.
  3. ↑ "Georgia Tech Research Institute Leads $10 M Open Source Initiative". Georgia Institute of Technology. 2011-05-17. Retrieved 2011-10-14.
  4. ↑ Hsu, Jeremy (2011-05-26). "U.S. Considers Open-Source Software for Cybersecurity". NBC News. Retrieved 2011-10-14.
  5. ↑ Perera, David (2013-08-29). "Open security isn't just software, say government open source advocates". FierceGovernmentIT. Retrieved 2013-09-07.
  6. ↑ Wheeler, David A (2013-08-21). "What is open security?" (PDF). Institute for Defense Analyses . Open Security. Retrieved 2013-09-07.[ permanent dead link ]
  7. ↑ Rockwell, Mark (2011-10-18). "DHS technology directorate wins awards for cyber security efforts". Government Security News. Retrieved 2011-10-24.
  8. ↑ Maddux, Rachael (2011-11-07). "Digital Warrior". Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine. Georgia Tech Alumni Association. Archived from the original on 2012-05-14. Retrieved 2011-11-11.
  9. ↑ "Homeland Open Security Technology (HOST)". DHS Cyber Security R&D Center. Retrieved 2011-10-14.
  10. ↑ Duffy, Jill (2011-05-18). "Georgia Tech to Lead $10M Open-Source Homeland Security Initiative". PC Magazine . Retrieved 2011-10-24.
  11. ↑ "Customers". OpenSSL Software Foundation. Retrieved 2011-10-24.
  12. ↑ "Consortium Members". Open Information Security Foundation. Retrieved 2011-10-24.
  13. ↑ Garrick, Joshua (2012-10-26). "GTRI hosts national cybersecurity summit". The Technique . Retrieved 2012-10-26.
  14. ↑ "GTRI and HOST create first Open Cybersecurity Summit in D.C." Georgia Institute of Technology. Archived from the original on 2012-12-12. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  15. ↑ "Open Cybersecurity Summit 2012". SignUp4. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  16. ↑ "Suricata Downloads". Open Security Information Foundation. Retrieved 2011-11-08.
  17. ↑ "OpenSSL and FIPS 140-2 Validation Status". OpenSSL . Retrieved 2011-11-08.
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