Senate Committee calls for DoD to develop network flow data analysis capability

The Defense Department should improve its ability to collect and analyze network flow data records, says the Senate Armed Services Committee. As part of its fiscal 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (S. 3254) sent to the Senate floor June 4, the committee calls on the DoD office of chief information officer to improve the department's capabilities to handle flow data records, and "to potentially make this technology available for the defense of the country voluntarily through the Tier 1 Internet Service Providers." The DoD, the report says, would not monitor Internet communications through network flow analysis, but it should develop an "early warning and attack assessment function" that is able to detect developing cyber attacks. That ability would also give further visibility into where Internet traffic originates, the report adds, and so diminish the uncertainty of attributing a cyber attack.