The purpose of ISEAGE is to fully and accurately recreate any cyber attack at any point on the Internet by simulating the complexity of an attack in the context of its total environment.
Before ISEAGE, government and private sector security professionals used outdated testing environments that oversimplified the threat because they were unable to recreate the true breadth of the Internet and all the network activities occurring during a cyber attack. The increased accuracy of ISEAGE will improve understanding of attack characteristics and provide a better assessment of how security systems handle attacks.
The lab is the brainchild of Dr. Doug Jacobson, a professor of computer engineering at Iowa State University and co-founder and CTO of Palisade Systems, a provider of content security appliances.
"As cyber attacks have become more sophisticated, traditional methods for testing and understanding the attacks haven't kept pace," said Dr. Doug Jacobson, professor of computer engineering at Iowa State University and chief technology officer of Palisade Systems, a provider of content security appliances.
"Until now, researchers were unable to model the true complexities of real-world Internet attacks," Jacobson said. "ISEAGE recreates Internet traffic and everything involved in a large or small-scale attack. Our simulations will generate valuable data and best practice recommendations that will allow computer security professionals, law enforcement officials and the computer security industry to develop and deploy more robust cyber defenses."
Palisade Systems has donated several PacketSure appliances, which will be used to monitor and understand what protocols and applications are being employed during an Internet attack. PacketSure provides a real time picture of network activity usage while an attack is in progress. PacketSure's granular reporting and forensic tools allow ISEAGE researchers to study specific hacking exploits against computers on a network.
"We're pleased to support the ISEAGE lab with products and technical assistance, because the research findings generated by the effort will help improve computer security best practices," said Kurt Shedenhelm, CEO of Palisade Systems. "The ISEAGE test bed also serves as a great demonstration of PacketSure's unique deep packet inspection technology, which allows our customers to prevent breaches of their classified and sensitive data."
