The Software Protection Initiative

In December 2001, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, directed the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Science and Technology) to undertake the Software Protection Initiative (SPI) to improve the protection of critical national security application software. In order to achieve the technology security objectives of DUSD(S&T), the SPI pursues technologies and techniques focused on achieving these goals: (1) slow the acquisition of DoD application software by adversaries, (2) make cost-prohibitive the exploitation of DoD software when it does leak, and (3) ensure technology/policy protection measures are appropriately applied to protect and extend our technological advantage. The SPI complements existing information assurance research and technologies for operating system protections and network security with an application-centric approach to protecting critical DoD software. The presentation will overview various aspects of the SPI mission and highlights some of the primary achievements of the past three years.