Former NSA director will file “at least” 9 patents to detect malicious hackers

[Matsuda]

Foreign Policy reports some patents will involve “behavioral models” to predict attacks.

In an interview Monday with former National Security Agency Director General Keith Alexander,Foreign Policy's Shane Harris learned that Alexander plans to file “at least” nine patent applications—“and possibly more"—pertaining to technology for detecting network intruders.

Alexander left his government post in early 2014 and went on to co-found a private company, IronNet Cybersecurity Inc., with unnamed business partners. Alexander said that these business partners helped him create the “unique” method for detecting hackers that he plans to patent. Of course, Alexander himself had unparalleled access to classified security operations from 2005, when he took charge of the NSA, to 2014, when he retired.

Since starting IronNet, Alexander has been peddling his consulting services to major corporations, especially those in the financial industry, and has quoted fees of up to $1 million per month. That astronomical number drew at least one federal representative to suggest that Alexander might be disclosing or misusing classified information.

Presumably, Alexander's expensive consulting will include access to IronNet's future patented technology, which will cover “a system to detect so-called advanced persistent threats, or hackers who clandestinely burrow into a computer network in order to steal secrets or damage the network itself,” Foreign Policy reported. Alexander specified to the magazine that IronNet's technology is unique because it uses “behavioral models” to anticipate a hacker's next moves.

Still, “one former national security official with decades of experience in security technology, and who asked to remain anonymous, said the behavioral-model approach is highly speculative and has never been used successfully,” Foreign Policy wrote. Nevertheless, Alexander said that he hopes to finish testing his system in September and has already signed contracts with three customers.

Alexander reportedly filed seven patents while at the NSA, of which four are still pending. Ars was unable to turn up any of the three approved patents, possibly because patents can be kept secret from the public if disclosure is considered to be “detrimental to the national security.”

The former NSA director said that he consulted with lawyers at the NSA, as well as his own private lawyers, to be sure that none of his forthcoming patents relied on work done by the NSA.

A source familiar with Alexander told Foreign Policy that “the former director developed this new technology on his private time and that he addressed any potential infractions before deciding to seek his patents.” But Alexander's unique position and status during his time at the NSA suggests that clients might be more susceptible to an up-sell that could pad Alexander's pocketbooks quite a bit.



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