'Hyperspeed signalling' could prevent cyber attacks, claim researchers

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://news.techworld.com/security/3354992/hyperspeed-signalling-could-prevent-cyber-attacks-claim-researchers/

By Sophie Curtis
Techworld
01 May 2012

Security engineers at the University of Tulsa have found a way to 
identify cyber attacks before they reach their target, enabling network 
administrators to take pre-emptive measures to protect their IT systems.

In a report published in the International Journal of Critical 
Infrastructure Protection, the engineers explained that slowing traffic 
by just a few milliseconds can give networks time to identify malicious 
data packets. The team have developed an algorithm that sends high-speed 
signals flying ahead of the malware to mobilise defences.

“Hyperspeed signalling uses optimal (hyperspeed) paths to transmit high 
priority traffic while other traffic is sent along suboptimal (slower) 
paths,” stated the report. “Slowing the traffic ever so slightly enables 
the faster command and control messages to implement sophisticated 
network defence mechanisms.”

One of the report's authors, Sujeet Shenoi, admitted to New Scientist 
magazine that adapting an existing network to run the algorithm would 
not be cheap. Investment in caching technology and new defence 
mechanisms would be required, and reserving a data pathway for the use 
of hyper-speed command and control signals could be seen as a waste of 
capacity.

[...]

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