Last Updated: 05/16/2011*

West Point Insider Threat Study
To arm warfighters with the ability to rapidly detect and neutralize insider threats, Raytheon has teamed with the U.S. Military Academy at West Point for a study about insider threats on war front lines.

Cadets from West Point’s department of electrical engineering and computers science are conducting the study to determine how insiders typically attack within a forward operating base on war front lines. They will then make recommendations on how to detect and deter these threats. The project provides cadets with opportunities to apply theory and newfound knowledge to real-world military challenges that they may soon face.

Raytheon Support
The study, which uses the Raytheon SureView™ information protection solution, was initiated and led by Dr. Jeanne Robinson, Raytheon Information Security Solutions (ISS) chief architect.

Final Results
West Point cadets presented their findings to date at the Information Assurance Symposium March 8, 2011, in Nashville, Tenn. The symposium is an annual forum, hosted jointly by the National Security Agency, Defense Information Systems Agency and the U.S. Strategic Command, where Raytheon demonstrated and was a bronze sponsor of the event. The cadets will deliver the final report in July.

Study Details
Insider threat risks may pose life-threatening consequences and are some of the hardest to identify for soldiers in forward operating bases. Because the operational tempo is fast and ever-changing, soldiers have very little time to address the problems posed by potential insider threats.

To identify and characterize behaviors of malicious insiders, the cadets, led by academy professor Lt. Col. Greg Conti, deployed SureView 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.

“Our capstone project this year is an excellent opportunity to conduct research and develop a tool that will benefit the Army, which we will soon be joining,” said Hunter Hutcheson, West Point cadet-in-charge of the project. “The impact of trusted insiders who seek to harm U.S. interests has not been fully realized, and we must move swiftly to counter this dangerous threat.”

rtn11_westpoint_robinson