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The IPIB process is used to assist with the production
of intelligence estimates, assessments, and other products to support a commander's
decision-making process. It is a continuous process involving five steps that
help a commander or defender know where to look in the battlespace, when to
look, what to expect to see, and what to do to defend the battlespace. This
research and development contract was originally awarded as part of the DARPA
Information Systems Office (ISO) Information Assurance and Survivability (IA&S)
Project. Working in DARPA's Cyber Panel Project, ZelTech provided the next
innovative step with joint Intelligence Preparation of the Battlespace (JIPB)
by developing a software application that extended the process to encompass
Computer Network Defense (CND). Our IO software process is called Intelligence
Preparation of the Information Battlespace (IPIB). ZelTech software engineers
developed, tested, and fielded the IPIB Product. IPIB software has enabled
commanders to visualize the entire spectrum of adversary capabilities in the
cyber realm of operations. The IPIB methodology and tools now support Information
Assurance (IA) across the full range of military operations, from the strategic
to the tactical level. IPIB employees perform threat tree analysis, strategy-to-task
modeling, and friendly mission modeling. This produces a CND Plan that focuses
on protecting the operational commander's network assets, as well as his mission.
IPIB began as a DARPA modernization research initiative. ZelTech's Chief Technology
Officer developed the planning and requirements documents and conducted initial
and follow-on studies. IPIB software provides network defenders with a mechanism
for determining what assets in a deployed network need to be defended in order
to provide the maximum survivability of the mission's information infrastructure.
This is done through the use of a context sensitive network design tool that
allows Mission Critical Functions (MCF) to be linked to specific intelligent
software and network elements. These elements can then be processed against
a known vulnerability database providing the network defender with a listing
of vulnerable assets. These assets, through the linkages to the Mission Critical
Functions, are now used to provide the network defender a Master Protection
List that defines and prioritizes what assets need to be defended in order
to best protect the mission.
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