SBIR-STTR Award

State-of-the-art software protection and anti-tamper systems move critical software and data “out-of-band” to the adversary, by using a hypervisor or on “secure” hardware. Unfortunately, the systems running this software are built using untrusted commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) parts. Supply chain threats to critical components, such as hardware or firmware Trojans, have invalidated the assumption that we can move our critical software and data completely “out-of-band” to the adversary, since the hardware components on which the software ultimately executes is untrusted. As a result, one must re-think the fundamental approach to building software protection and anti-tamper systems. Siege Technologies proposes a methodology and system to address these concerns on a COTS system, or a system composed of COTS parts. Our solution is specifically designed to augment existing software protection mechanisms, shielding them from attack by malicious hardware alterations. The research and systems design conducted in Phase I will shed new light on the problem space and establish new protection capabilities that guard against this threat and enable the system to run protected code in the presence of potentially compromised hardware.

Keywords:
Software Protection, Hardware Trojan, Firmware Torjan, Malicious Hardware, Hardware Supply Chain

The objective of the proposed project is to develop technology that infers the intent and strategy of malware. This technology can then be used in conjunction with decoys and honeytokens to gather detailed information on malware intent and strategy, which will reveal valuable intelligence concerning the adversary and insights into the best defensive strategies. The proposed effort will focus on malware that infects avionics systems. A test bed will be constructed that includes Mission Control and Flight Control computers, a simulated sensor pod, all connected by a standard avionics bus. The test bed will enable us to develop the technology in a realistic environment and to demonstrate the technology operating in a simulated operational context.

Keywords:
Malware, malware analysis, malware intent, avionics