Grier Forensics, LLC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: ABSTRACT: The Web is an indispensable part of communication and research, yet brings an o

Description

ABSTRACT: The Web is an indispensable part of communication and research, yet brings an often unseen cost: Third parties--search engine providers, web site maintainers, ISPs, and even eavesdroppers--are provided with a look at our topics of interest. This exposure violates operational security (OPSEC) and exposes us to espionage. Encryption mitigates some risks but is helpless against others. Existing anonymity technology, such as Tor, is encumbered by scalability, performance, usability, and security problems to the point that it has not been adopted by enterprises. We propose new technology to meet enterprises'privacy, anonymity, and OPSEC requirements in a scalable, high performance manner, developed for enterprises from the ground up. Our focus consists of a pool of remotely controlled disposable virtual machines to provide application level anonymity, an enterprise class mix network to provide network level anonymity, and an offline mirror of the Web to provide completely disconnected access. We will determine both security and scalability requirements, model threats, develop foundational principles, and define and demonstrate the architecture's components accordingly. Our experience in digital forensics, cybersecurity, network design, and enterprise software engineering makes our team uniquely suited to succeed. BENEFIT: Technology to allow military, government, and industrial enterprises to use the Web anonymously, while maintain enterprise level scalability and performance. This technology will allow enterprises access to the Web--today's premier source of information and communication--without revealing their topics of interest and research or violating OPSEC.