CT-ISG: Integrated Enterprise Security Management

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The complexity of modern large-scale systems has caused a transitionfrom a purely perimeter-based defensive model to one where securitymechanisms pervade the infrastructure. However, there has not been acorresponding evolution in the model under which security policyoperates in such environments: policies must still make independentdecisions using only partial information: just what is known by thatcomponent at the time the decision is made. Thus, security policy mustoperate under certain assumptions that often cannot be validated. Suchunchecked assumptions offer a way for attackers to bypass security byexploiting unforeseen loopholes. Consequently, administrators oftenuse additional security mechanisms, such as intrusion-detectionsystems, that are poorly integrated with each other and with theexplicit system access-control policy.This project is exploring the use of coordinated security policymechanisms in heterogeneous, large-scale distributed environments. Theassumptions on which security policy decisions are based are alwayschecked against current facts. Changes of these facts are signaled byevents propagated to other security-critical elements. Securitymechanisms become dynamic, allowing for coordinated and continuouspolicy re-evaluation throughout the duration of an entity'sinteractions with the various components of the system. This modelnaturally integrates access control, intrusion detection and otherdefensive mechanisms, allowing for the unification of protection andreaction under the auspices of a common security policy. The result isa more reliable and robust computing infrastructure that is resilientto new threats and attacks, and bridge the gap between thecapabilities offered by advanced defense mechanisms and the inabilityof security policy to take advantage of them in a coherent,coordinated manner.