METRONOME SOFTWARE, LLC — Department of Homeland Security SBIR Phase II: 19.OATS-003

Description

Metronome Software proposes the research and development of a VIRTICONN, a zero-trust system for Virtualized Trusted Internet Connections (vTIC). The effort aims to overcome the limitations of traditional network security to provide authenticated users access to private resources, typically via a VPN or TIC. This older approach increases the attack surface of an internal system as each user is represented as a user on the private network itself, leading to problems where hackers potentially have access to everything and essentially have free lateral movement. The results of the R&D program will facilitate the complete operational move to cloud deployments, as VIRTICONN provides confidence that traditionally authenticated and un-authenticated users are verified prior to granting accesses to internal cloud applications that are completely invisibility to outsiders. Providing security for a new breed of anytime, anywhere workers and cloud-based applications requires a novel approach. Enterprises are turning away from past solutions that secure the perimeter and then trust everything inside and are moving to the zero-trust security model derived from R&D to protect sensitive resources and data. The potential commercial applications of the proposed R&D effort thus can be far-reaching as government and private organizations do not want to fall victim to adversaries breaking into their internal systems subsequent to successfully breaching the 'edge' security (of current protective methods) and equipped with zero-day, ransomware or other malicious methods to do damage.