Static in the Ether

Eweek is carying a story about the launche of the ISEAGE project (Internet-Scale Event and Attack Generation Environment) by the Information Assurance Center at Iowa State University.

This USD 500K environment aims to be able to perform a complete simulation of Internet Activity, by its 64 processor nodes.the stated outcomes are:

“Dedicated to creating a virtual Internet for the purpose of researching, designing, and testing cyber defense mechanisms, the proposed one-of-a-kind facility will be the catalyst for bringing together top researchers from several disciplines for a common goal of making computing safer. Unlike computer-based simulations, real attacks will be played out against real equipment. ”

I really really want one :-) or at the least I think somethign like this could prove valuable for the model evaluation that I’m looking at for my PhD Research. What I am looking forward to on a more practical level is when they start releasing some more detailed design documents and software. We have massive computing facilities in terms of the various large undergrad and general access labs on campus — the majority of which lie completely unused over the long December break. Depending on the complexity of the setup, I would hope it would be possible to construct at least a scale replica , although temporary.

This is definatley a project I will be watching with interest as it grows. The ISEAGE Overview document (pdf) currently provides some of the motivation for such a facility.