Military Communications and Information Technology: A Trusted ...

354 Military Communications and Information Technology...
persons). Additionally, payload is encrypted with different keys and it can be only
decrypted by domains that belong to the same distribution group (nodes relaying
the message can not read the payload).
The visualization methods and Decision Module GUI will allow the administrator
of the proposed system to increase the situational awareness. The goal
of the Decision Module GUI is to visualize the network status and provide information
about historical and current network events and security incidents. DM will use
data about historical network performance, information from the underlying online
system and reported network events. The tool will analyze and present the threats,
provide support and guidance to the operator and will evaluate potential actions
to be taken as well as decisions made by the administrator.
One of the visualization examples is shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5. GUI visualization
Furthermore, GUI allows the administrator to visualize the network events
currently processed by the Decision Module, manage the communication between
different DMs and decide what types of decisions rules can be distributed and
shared with other domains.
Very important functionality of FCDS is the possibility of semi-automate prevention/reaction
to attacks. Full CDR describes how RE should react to detected attack.
This CDR is transformed by translator (Figure 3) into commands understandable by
response elements (e.g. firewalls). Then translator sends them to selected RE.
C. Reaction elements
The FCDS architecture includes reaction elements. They are responsible
for actions, which enable prevention, limitation or cut down hostile actions. It is
obvious that response to certain attacks may be difficult and sometimes impos-