Objectives

Los Alamos National Laboratory is focused on national security threats to the nation's cyber infrastructure. We develop innovative technologies for detection, response, and predictive vulnerability analysis. These technologies are designed to defeat today's intrusions into both government and critical infrastructure systems as well as to predict and prepare for potential attacks in times of conflict.

We develop new methods to instrument computers and networks and detect the activities of cyber insiders --- be they humans or malicious software.

We analyze dynamic instruction traces of malware using our VERA visualization tool, statistical models, and machine learning methods.

EpiCom is our approach to improving the resilience, security, and performance of distributed systems. We address vulnerabilities inherent in today's centralized management and detection systems and use predictive analysis to reason about distributed system security.

Our Multi-Scale Integrated Information and Telecommunications System (MIITS) supports Internet, PSTN, Wireless, and Botnet models that can be combined with our other transportation, activity, demand, and social network models.

The Tracer FIRE and Tracer INFERNO events provide hands-on computer security workshops to strengthen the community of cyber defenders in DOE, other government agencies, and critical infrastructure. These workshops build a distributed team of cyber defenders with the latest skills necessary to respond to cyber intrusions.

Covert & steganographic channels allow undetected communications in a network. We develop methods and tools for creating, disrupting, and detecting these channels.

Quantum-Enabled Security uses quantum (single-photon) communications integrated with optical communications to provide a strong, innate security foundation at the photonic layer for optical fiber networks.

Our work on Control Theory for Smart Grids (pdf) is developing new understanding on how to the nation's electrical power grid can be made more robust to attack and failure.