Raytheon helps Army with threat detection

NASHVILLE, March 10 (UPI) -- The U.S. Military Academy and Raytheon have teamed to study how to detect insider threats on war front lines and how to deter and defeat them.

Cadets from West Point's department of electrical engineering and computer science are conducting a study to determine how insiders typically attack within a forward operating base on war front lines. They will make recommendations on how to detect and deter such threats.

Raytheon said the project provides cadets with opportunities to apply theory and knowledge to real-world military challenges that they may soon face.

West Point cadets were presenting their findings at the Information Assurance Symposium this week in Nashville. A final report is due in July.

The symposium is an annual forum hosted jointly by the National Security Agency, Defense Information Systems Agency and the U.S. Strategic Command.

To identify and characterize behaviors of malicious insiders, one group of cadets has deployed Raytheon's SureView information protection solution on a U.S. Military Academy network within a simulated forward operating base environment. A second group of cadets, acting as malicious insiders, try to evade the SureView system.

Raytheon is supporting the effort by providing licenses, installation and training at no cost to the academy.

In addition to the simulated environment, a survey of U.S. Army personnel with recent combat experience is being conducted to identify insider threat attributes.

"There is a good chance these cadets will be on the front lines and there won't be time to continually scrutinize everyone with access to operational plans to ensure they have no malicious intent," said Jeanne Robinson, chief architect of Raytheon Information Security Solutions. "This study will help fine-tune SureView to detect insider threats specific to a forward operating base.

"SureView will be their eyes and ears, their 24/7 watch to combat the insider threat -- literally saving lives."