SINET Showcase
Needs and Requirements

The SINET Showcase was created to identify and showcase groundbreaking cyber security technologies for both the government and commercial sectors. A selection committee has been established to determine which companies or individuals will be chosen to present. While the emphasis will be to review disruptive technology from emerging companies, highly- innovative entries from more established companies may also be considered. Participation is also open to companies or individuals from outside the United States.

Private industry, providers of critical infrastructure, and the Federal Government, in particular the defense and intelligence communities, are seeking to address immediate security requirements and also to explore promising concepts for hardening the cyber environment. Consequently, although the majority of the presentations will involve security products that are currently or nearly available for use, the screening committee will consider a limited number of conceptual presentations that explore the possibilities to make fundamental changes in the threat landscape.

Because more than 90% of Federal systems share the Internet with commercial and consumer users, the distinction between them for security purposes is becoming increasingly blurred. For example, members of the armed forces frequently use social networking sites and cell phones. As a result of this trend, the selection committee will carefully consider disruptive security technologies that might be considered more commercial than government in nature.

To be inclusive, the committee has formulated some open-ended questions that are intended to stimulate thinking and to encourage "out of the box" solutions:

  • What can be done to change the economics of the current security dilemma?
  • How might it be possible to determine the ultimate source of an attack?
  • If attribution can indicate the ultimate source of an attack, what technical responses are possible?
  • Is there a better way to test and validate security products to ensure effectiveness?
  • How might the Internet itself be reasonably modified to eliminate or reduce vulnerabilities?
  • How might Internet administrators communicate and cooperate if the Internet itself is disrupted?
  • Should commercial and government entities be linked to quickly respond to attacks?
  • Can "cloud computing" provide a high standard of information assurance?

Examples of Needs and Requirements

No category of cyber security product will be excluded from consideration. In fact, it is hoped that new categories of products might be discovered in this conference. The following list demonstrates the breadth of solutions the committee has compiled as being of high interest.

  • Law Enforcement
    • Attribution in cyberspace
    • Forensics tools
    • Malware reverse engineering
  • Military and Intelligence Agencies
    • Attribution in cyberspace
    • Common operating picture and situational awareness tools
    • Data mining
    • Early detection of "below the radar" attacks / anomaly identification
    • Extremely secure Identity and access management
    • Highly robust but anonymous information sharing
    • Networking robustness
    • Robust exfiltration detection or prevention
    • Supply chain verification
  • Enterprise IT Security
    • Authentication of users and devices
    • Data loss prevention; content security
    • End point device security
    • Firewalls and virtual private networks
    • Identity management
    • Insider threat detection
    • Intrusion detection and prevention
    • Kernel hardening and process-based security tools
    • Logging and log management, data mining
    • Malware response toolkits
    • Safe and dynamic data sharing
    • Security event and information management tools
    • Toolkits to scan web applications for vulnerabilities
    • Unified Threat Management
    • Virtual computing technologies for information assurance
    • Vulnerability and risk management
  • Infrastructure Modernization
    • Broadband security
    • Cloud based services
    • Managed security services
    • Mobile device security
    • Secure mechanisms (naming, numbering, routing, etc.)
    • "Smart" networks (electric grid, healthcare, transportation, etc.)
    • Wireless security
  • Critical Infrastructures/Key Resources Security
    • First responder system interoperability
    • Methods for protecting critical CI/KR data transit over the Internet
    • PCS/SCADA security tools
  • Network Applications and Management
    • Automation of application development and management
    • Next generation social networking
    • Real time network monitoring and response
    • Virtual computing technologies for network management
  • Other