2018 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
CyTrONE: Cyber Range Framework for Effective Cybersecurity Training
| Project/Area Number |
17K00478
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| Research Institution | Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology |
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Principal Investigator |
BEURAN Razvan 北陸先端科学技術大学院大学, 先端科学技術研究科, 特任准教授 (40771788)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
知念 賢一 北陸先端科学技術大学院大学, 先端科学技術研究科, 特任准教授 (20304157)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
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| Keywords | cybersecurity training / integrated framework |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
According to the submitted activity plan, in FY2018 we had two main research directions:
1. We continued the integration of the CyTrONE framework with the Moodle Learning Management System (LMS) via the module CyLMS, integration that was started earlier than planed in FY2017. The integration is now completed and we are currently preparing a journal paper on the topic.
2. We began focusing on training content development, and we are in the process of releasing a new training content set that uses the style of Capture The Flag (CTF) competitions, which are very popular for security training activities. Related to training content, the initially planned way to retrieve automatically old packages with vulnerabilities could not be realized, therefore we moved to an alternative approach that enables dynamic training sessions, as it is described below.
In addition to the planned items above, we have also began implementing a supplementary module, named CyPROM, that was not included in the initial plan. The role of this module is to dynamically manage scenario progression, so that more realistic attack-defense scenarios can be created, for instance with attacks conducted automatically while trainees defend their system. A paper on this topic has already been accepted for publication, and the module itself will be integrated with CyTrONE in FY2019.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
The training framework CyTrONE is now almost fully functional, with most of the modules and features having been implemented and tested. We have also conducted several functionality evaluations. While no significant issues were detected so far, feedback from the evaluators will be used for bug fixing and future improvement purposes.
Overall research progress is relatively smooth, with a new module being implemented to support dynamic training activities. Although the amount of new training content that was created until now is somewhat less than planned, content development will continue in FY2019 to fill this gap.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
For FY2019, which is the last year of the project, the activity will proceed along three main directions:
1. Documentation will be reviewed and user support will be provided to all parties interested in using our framework. In this context, training content development will also continue as per the requirements of various types of trainees.
2. User trials will be conducted with the final version of the framework and methods of inclusion in existing training programs will be assessed. For this purpose, the newly developed scenario progression module, CyPROM, will also be integrated with the overall framework.
3. Project promotion will continue, with a planned demo at the CODE BLUE 2019 conference, and presentations at the USENIX Security '19 conference. This will allow us to target both domestic and international audiences to publicize our project as widely as possible.
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| Causes of Carryover |
Some travel expense budget remained unused since we did not attend in FY2018 any conference overseas using the KAKENHI budget. However, we plan to attend one such conference in FY2019, and the unused budget will be used together with this year's travel budget to pay for the associated costs.
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| Remarks |
The GitHub website of the Cyber Range Organization and Design (CROND) chair, where our framework's source code is being made publicly available.
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