SBIR Phase I: Defenses Against Malicious Code

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will investigate a new approach to hardening programs against attack. The defense mechanism works by controlling how a process can interact with its environment, making it exceedingly difficult for an attacker to commandeer a system and manipulate it for malicious purposes. The most common propagation methods of worms and viruses will be thwarted. The approach is made possible by recent advances in static program analysis. The technology will enable users to harden programs, even when the source code for some or all of the program's components are unavailable, as is commonly the case with commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) components. Worms and viruses have plagued information systems for decades. If successful, the system herein will increase network security substantially. Today, it is relatively easy to launch a worm or virus. While no technology can prevent every type of attack, the system will significantly increase the difficulty of launching attacks and eliminate vulnerability to many of the attacks used today. The broad protection it offers will also prevent future types of attacks. Furthermore, the R&D required to develop this technology will result in static program analysis infrastructure that makes it easier to build tools that examine programs. Such tools would work on both source code and program binaries, and could support reverse engineering or audits of programs for vulnerabilities or insider attacks.