U.S. Military to Aid Government Against Malware

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The U.S Air Force and Homeland Security Department have teamed up to create a new test kit that imitates cyber malware, the better to train government analysts to fend off attacks from hostile sleeper viruses.

According to the Washington Times the Air Force developed the prototype kit, the first of its kind, to improve the malware-fighting skills of Homeland Security officials. The kit is designed to replicate covert computer virus symptoms, and includes a list of procedures for identifying the systems, so that federal employees can hone their ability to find the real thing.

The goal, according to Air Force Maj. Jonathan Butts, director of the Air Force Institute of Technology’s Center for Cyberspace Research, is to provide government officials with training necessary to detect sleeper viruses embedded in critical infrastructure, such as a power grid or oil and gas pipelines.

iHLS – Israel Homeland Security

Maj. Butts said the Department of Homeland Security provided research funds to develop the test kit, which works in a manner similar to doctors to determine what is wrong with their patients — by looking for new or unusual symptoms. A major part of the training, he said, involves look at the “vital signs” of a given computer system and learning “what to expect,” by measuring to see if the computer’s vital signs have changed.

It remains to be seen how effective the kit will be in training officials for battle on a widening cybersecurity landscape that analysts say has grown increasingly difficult to negotiate over the past decade.