Top Secret Networks Are Protected Using This Tool

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With so many employees now working remotely, the cyber attack surface has been increasingly expanding. Officials at the US Defense Information Systems Agency say the organization’s cloud-based browsing tool boasts stronger security for the Department of Defense networks. The Cloud-Based Internet Isolation (CBII) program, which hosts internet browsing in an isolated cloud environment, transfers the traffic away from the user’s desktop or laptop device. It is an especially important tool with personnel working remotely, safeguarding against potentially malicious code being downloaded to endpoints and infecting the broader network. 

Moreover, it works even if employees forget to connect to the virtual private network “to get to the DoD-specific stuff and they just go to Google or something and click around, they’re still protected,” Angela Landress, chief of Defensive Cyber Operations at DISA, according to c4isrnet.com. Landress explained that when browsing the internet, visiting a single website can mean communicating with an average of 31 other websites, which often include advertisers. CBII hosts that connection in a separate cloud environment, meaning there’s only one line of code when looking at the source code of the website because it routed it to secure isolated vendor space.

Other measures DISA has taken to secure networks include increased identity management, multifactor authentication, refocusing of analysts to defend against cloud and internet threats and partnering with other federal agencies to defend against threats that aren’t part of DoD but can influence the workforce.