“What makes the Symbiote technology unique is the protection it offers for devices most organizations don’t think to protect, like Voice over IP (VoIP) phones and printers,” said S&T Cyber Security Division (CSD) Internet Measurement and Attack Modeling Program Manager Dr. Ann Cox.
The work was initially developed by researchers at Columbia University, who subsequently formed Red Balloon Security and continued developing the Symbiote technology. CSD’s Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) 11-02 sought proposals in 14 technical topic areas aimed at improving security in both federal networks and the larger Internet, and developing new and enhanced technologies for detecting, preventing, and responding to cyber-attacks on the nation’s critical systems. S&T funded the Symbiote BAA proposal,
Symbiote is designed to detect intentional interference on many types of embedded system devices, such as routers, VoIP phones, point-of-sale devices, and so on. Red Balloon attracted the attention of HP after it decided to use a common HP printer for its research, completed a proof of concept, and published the results academically through Columbia University. HP has incorporated the Symbiote technology into their printer product line, providing protection to devices worldwide.
“The Symbiote technology is leading cybersecurity innovation,” said Cox. “This technology is still developing new features to even the playing field between the attackers and defenders, allowing the defenders to pull ahead.”
…. “To learn more about CSD’s research and development projects, visit www.dhs.gov/cyber-research. ”