Cloud Of Iron: DARPA Hardens Cloud Computing Against Cyber Attack
"The cloud" may seem amorphous, but in reality it consists of a host of modestly capable user terminals connected to a high-powered central server or server farm. The great advantage of the cloud is that individual users can borrow capacity -- storage, processing power, even entire applications -- from the central server when they need it. The great vulnerability is a successful attack on the central server can compromise everyone on the cloud.
When you put that many eggs in one basket, you'd better guard it well. That's the objective of a new program at DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency: MRC, Mission-oriented Resilient Clouds.
MRC about building a system that can keep functioning while under an attack and continue to provide useful services even after some resources have been corrupted. The research stresses designing resilient, adaptive systems able to fend off attacks, MRC program manager Howard Shrobe told AOL Defense.
Centralization offers economic efficiency, but it also creates a single point of failure.
